Digimon 05: THE NEXT GENERATION
by Hiril Moon
Summary: Things were meant to end for the Digidestined. They didn't. Now the grandchildren of five of the original Digidestined have to deal with a legacy they thought was just a craze...
1. Destined

Destined  
  
The figure stared over the DigiWorld. It gave a smile as it looked at all the peaceful, sleeping Digimon. Suddenly, a ball of black fire appeared in it's hands. It then flung the ball at a sleeping Roarermon. The lion digimon's eyes opened, coloured black as the ball took control of him. He was now under the figure's control.  
  
Steve double-clicked on BT Internet Surf Time. He typed in his password and waited impatiently for it to connect. He never could stand waiting for it. When it showed he was connected, he muttered, "Finally."  
  
He typed in the address of his favourite Digimon website. Then he stared at the computer as it sent up the message `page not found`. He frowned, then he clicked on Yahoo! Messenger. "Please say the others are on," he prayed.  
  
They were. Mike blinked as he read the message. Violet hit her laptop. Mary's eyes widened. John rubbed his chin. "That doesn't make sense," he thought. Then a message from Steve popped up. 'What's the matter with the internet? It won't load any websites.'  
  
Steve wasn't surprised at what the others said. 'Me too,' Mike said. Then,' Me 3,', 'Me 4,', 'Me 5. What's going on?'. The last one was obviously from John. He hated not knowing what was happening.  
  
Then all five screens started glowing. "What the." Steve said before something shot out of the screen towards him! The same thing was happening to everyone else! The light hit them. When it cleared, Mary stared at the thing she was now holding. "What on earth is this?" she thought. The thing had a screen and a bunch of buttons. It was shaped a bit like a rectangle with the sides bent in, and there was a sliding thing at the back so that she could put it on.  
  
The next day John staggered into the park. He'd been up all night trying to figure out what had happened and what the device that came out of his laptop was. All he could guess was that it looked a bit like the digivices on Digimon: Digital Monsters and everytime it went near the computer it started beeping. Then whatever was on the computer screen would swirl together to make a portal that kept flashing different colours. Orange, blue, red, green, silver, purple, yellow, pink, gold, bluey-green, reddy-brown, flesh pink and back to orange. It was hypnotising to watch.  
  
He spotted the others by the wall. Steve and Mike were having an argument, as usual. Mary was looking over Violet's shoulder at something on her laptop's screen.  
  
"Hey, John!" Steve yelled," Did the computer spit out something for you?"  
  
John stopped," How did you know?  
  
Violet looked up from her computer, "It happened to us too," she explained.  
  
"So, we were wondering what they were. Violet found a portal thing, but she can't work out what it does. All she says is that she thinks it leads to another world," Mary said, worriedly.  
  
Steve raised an eyebrow, "So, we thought we should wait for the expert's opinion," he concluded.  
  
Before John could reply, Violet said," I think we should try and go through it."  
  
They all stared at her. Ignoring them, she held her device at the screen. It glowed, a blinding light shot out at her and she was sucked in.  
  
They stared, open mouthed, at the screen, then Mike broke the silence.  
  
"I'm going after her!" he declared, teeth clenched.  
  
"Me too," Steve said, then," Me three," and "Me four."  
  
Simultaneously, they held what they now knew were digivices at the screen. It glowed again, the light shot out and then they were gone. Seconds later, the laptop folded-up and disappeared too.  
  
Violet (and later, all the others) had a brief vision of flashing lights, a computer screen and then completely disappearing!  
  
She woke up next to a beach. There were palm trees, shade and an angry lion with fiery paws, and mane. She blinked and looked back. Yep, definitely lion shaped. Just, his eyes were entirely black. He looked ready to pounce.  
  
She stepped back and was just about to scream when a heap of humans fell out of the sky and on top of her.  
  
"The Eagle has landed!" Mike muttered, squashed between Violet and Mary. Noticing this, He started to redden, and quickly wriggled out.  
  
"I have two, no three questions. 1) Where are we? 2) What is that lion-on-fire-thing? And 3) What was Mike doing with the girls?" John asked. Violet, Mary and Mike all went redder than a tomato and sprang away from each other. Steve chuckled.  
  
"Er.Why don't we get out of here?" suggested Violet, to stop everyone from looking at them.  
  
Then the lion thing roared and sprang.  
  
Without saying anything, they all turned and ran in the same direction. A temple began to rise on horizon, and they headed towards it.  
  
When they arrived at the temple, they turned around to see if the lion-thing was still chasing them. Except Violet, who was examining the pictures on the two pillars in front of the entrance and the one on top, in the triangle thing that was obviously a mistake in the building plans, as it had a domed roof.  
  
The one on the bottom of the left pillar was of a thing with wings, claws, talons and a long, striped tail with beads on the hairs at the end of it. There was a kind of jewel on it's head.  
  
The one above it looked like a slug on legs and the feet were clawed. There was a pearl with fire round it on the end of it's tail and three more (with fire) on each side of it's head and on top of the head.  
  
On top of the right pillar was a picture of a kind of short snake with a bent thing on it's head. There was a line of triangles on it's back.  
  
Below it was a bird with a dragon's tail. There was a large, curved triangle on it's head.  
  
Finally, in the triangle thing at the top was something with webbed- feet, a three pointed tail, dangerous looking teeth, a fin on it's head and blobs in various areas of it's body.  
  
"Er, guys? I think you should see these pictures," she suggested.  
  
They turned round to look. Mike felt somehow he knew the snake one, even though he had never seen anything like it before. The others all felt the same, but towards different pictures.  
  
"Why are we just standing round? I say we just go inside. It has to be better than waiting for that lion thing!" Steve said suddenly, interrupting their thoughts.  
  
Without saying anything, they all trooped in. The first thing they saw was some kind of writing they couldn't read. Violet walked up to it.  
  
"Can you guys read this?" she asked.  
  
"No, why?" John retorted. "Shouldn't she know the answer?" he thought.  
  
"It's just, I think I can read this!" she replied. They all stared at her. Ignoring their open mouths, she started to read," `The Temple of the Digi shall protect the Digimon of the Digidestined until the Digidestined come to claim them. Only one of them will understand Digispeak, so this child must say the sacred words in order to release the Digimon to save the Digiworld from the darkness which will arise."  
  
At that part she stopped," Do you think I should say the words?" she questioned. After a discussion, they all agreed. Violet took a deep breath and recited," Digimon, awaken from your spell of sleep, Evil has arisen; it has made the slope steep, It is up to you to help the Digidestined fight, In the darkness make a light, Digimon, awaken!"  
  
As soon as she said `awaken`, there was a rumbling and a grating sound. They rushed out and saw something incredible.  
  
The pictures were all glowing. Then, as the children stared, they started to emerge from their places in the structures. John's laptop started to shake and beep in his rucksack. He took it out and opened it up. On the screen was a picture of one of the creatures (the one with a fin on it's head (blue with white blobs)) and some sort of description about it. He read out the words, "Snowmon: a snow Digimon who is resistant to extremely low temperatures. He can swim up to 8 miles per hour and his attack is Frozen Water."  
  
As soon as he finished reading out the description, a new one popped up. This one was about the snake one (red with black triangles). Mary read it over his shoulder," Firepentmon: a snake Digimon who attacks with his Flame Twirl. The triangles on his back can turn orange, allowing him to hide in fire."  
  
Then a description about the slug one (luminous pink with white pearls) replaced the previous one. Mike read it out loud," Pearlmon: a fire Digimon who can burn up to 2 square metres with her Pearl Burn attack.  
  
"Fire? She looks more like a slug on legs!" Steve muttered. Pearlmon frowned and yelled," Pearl Burn!" The pearl on top of her head became consumed with fire and she shot it at Steve. He only just avoided being burnt.  
  
Violet grinned. Then a new description for the thing with wings and a striped tail (light purple with a dark purple jewel and pink, silver and gold wings) appeared on the computer screen and she bent over to read it, " Jewelmon: she's a jewel Digimon with Jewel Strike for an attack. She can't fly very high, but she can hover about five metres above the ground."  
  
Last of all, a description of the bird with a dragon's tail (red body, gold beak and talons, silver tail, orange spike and yellow wings) flashed on to the screen. Steve read it, just so everyone got a fair share," Mythicmon: a mythical Digimon who's a mix of phoenix and dragon. His attack is Mythical Spike."  
  
As soon as he finished, the Digimon separated and each of them went to a different human. Snowmon went to Steve, Firepentmon to Mike, Pearlmon to Violet ("I might have guessed," Steve muttered to himself), Jewelmon to Mary and Mythicmon to John. "Hi!" Snowmon brightly said to Steve. Steve just stared.  
  
The only two people who seemed to not be paralysed were Mike and Violet. Mike was talking calmly to Firepentmon about if he knew any of the previous Digidestined, or any of their Digimon.  
  
"Well," he replied," I was quite good friends with Garurumon, Angemon, Greymon and Ankylomon. Biyomon was my girlfriend, until she digivolved to Birdramon. All of the digidestined's digimon spend all their time as champions now. You know, I kept looking forward to the day I would digivolve, so I could look them in the eye and say `see, I can do what you can. Still think you're so special, going on about your adventures on Earth? `. Then, I was chosen to be your Digimon, so I was turned into an engraving on that pillar. All that happened about 2 years ago," Mike just looked at him in admiration.  
  
Violet, meanwhile, was complimenting Pearlmon on almost burning Steve.  
  
Finally, John looked up from talking to Mythicmon (he'd got over his fear of him) and saw the lion thing sitting there, waiting for them to see him. Simultaneously, all the others looked up and saw it too.  
  
Pleased that they'd seen him at last, the lion got up and grinned. His mane began to glow," Flaming Mane!" he growled. Fire came out of his mane and shot at the new digidestined.  
  
"We're doomed!" Steve thought to himself.  
  
WILL THE DIGIDESTINED SURVIVE THE ATTACK? AND WHO IS THIS STRANGE LION? FIND OUT ON THE NEXT EPISODE OF DIGIMON: DIGITAL MONSTERS  
  
Author's note: OK, this took a while to write. Also, THIS IS NOT THE ONLY ONE I HAVE WRITTEN! I've written about twenty episodes in this series, but I'll only release each one after. er. FIVE reviews on the previous one. So, by the time I've released the twentieth episode, I should have. (produces calculator and presses loads of numbers) at least a hundred. ^_^. Also, if I get, say, 10 reviews for one and three for the next, I still need two, OK? So. GET REVIEWING!!!!! 


	2. Digivolve into Champions

Digivolve into Champions!  
  
The fire from the mane of the lion thing was shooting towards them, splitting into five separate parts to hit all of them at the same time.  
  
Just when it seemed there was no escape, the children's Digimon leapt up and shouted their attacks," Frozen Water!" "Flame Twirl!" "Pearl Burn" "Jewel Strike!" "Mythical Spike!"  
  
Snowmon's body glowed and ice shot out of the white blobs on his body. Firepentmon swung his head and flames came out of the thing on his head. The pearl on top of Pearlmon's head fired again. Jewelmon's jewel glowed and shot off her head with more force than a cannon. The spike on top of Mythicmon's head glowed and he swooped at the fire. The attacks all hit the flames and they exploded.  
  
The force of the explosion threw everyone back, including the lion. He was the first to recover, leaping forwards at the digidestined and driving them back to the edge of a cliff. When they had run as far as the tip, he screamed, "Flaming Mane!"  
  
The rock that supported the kids was too thin to resist the force of the flames attacking it, and broke. The children fell backwards into the sea beneath the cliff. Violet managed to pull out the anorak she always carried and covered Pearlmon's flames, so they wouldn't go out.  
  
"Oh great! I can't swim that well!" John yelled, in fear. As soon as he heard that, Mythicmon curled his tail round him, to break his fall and to keep his head above the water.  
  
The only pair that were not scared were Steve and Snowmon. Steve had won awards for his fast swimming and could hold his breath for about a minute and Snowmon was a natural in the water. When everyone hit the water, both of them helped their friends get to the shore.  
  
"Well, that was fun," Mike commented sarcastically, once he had stopped panting. Suddenly frowning, he glared at Steve," And I did not need your help, Steve. I can swim, you know!" he yelled.  
  
"Really? I'm surprised. You can't even do the doggy paddle!" Steve retorted.  
  
"Can!"  
  
"Can't!"  
  
"Can!"  
  
"Can't, can't, can't!"  
  
Mary sighed," Those two are always fighting," she said, to no one in particular.  
  
The two boys tensed, about to punch each other. Violet calmly stepped in between them," OK, OK, time out," she said, putting her hands together in a T position. She frowned at each of them and they both turned away. Violet could look as if she was staring into your soul if she wanted to.  
  
Before anyone could say anything, the sea started to swirl and huge waves appeared. When they crashed down in front of them, a dark blue Digimon leapt down from the crest. His head had skin moulded into a mock tidal wave on it, and some of it looked as if it was going to crash down, like real water. He had webbed hands and feet and a picture of a tidal wave on his belly. His eyes were black as well.  
  
"Those black eyes are starting to get on my nerves," Violet thought.  
  
Mary opened her mouth and was about to scream when the thing said," It is no use to scream. I am Tidalmon and my heart is as cold as ice. My Tidal Wave attack is feared amongst all Digimon!"  
  
He jumped into the air," Tidal Wave!" The sea reared and formed into a giant tidal wave. It then hurled itself at Steve, he started to step back, but the wave was too fast.  
  
It was about to engulf him when his digivice started to glow. A ball of light, like the one that had hit him when he was transported to Digiworld, shot out of it at Snowmon. When the light hit him, he suddenly shouted, "Snowmon digivolve to Icemon!"  
  
Snowmon had transformed into some kind of white water creature, with four powerful-looking legs, webbed feet, a three-pointed tail, a fin with stripes on his head and another striped one on his back. There was a picture of a sapphire on each of his feet, two on his body, joined with a blue line, one more on each of his fins and his entire body was white. There was a blue line that started at the end of each of the points on his tail, joined up above the middle part, becoming one line that joined to the sapphire on his behind and joining that to the front sapphire. Blue markings that looked like hand-gliders were at the top of his legs. He had a look of majesty and importance.  
  
Mythicmon said," I've heard about Icemon. He's an ice Digimon who can swim up to 8 knots (?) per hour. His Ice Jewel can freeze almost anything, but he'll do anything for his friends."  
  
"He changed!" John shouted.  
  
Icemon glared at the tidal wave that had almost crashed onto Steve. "Ice Jewel!" He tensed and the sapphires all over his body glowed and sent out ice crystals. As soon as the crystals hit the water, it froze into a solid ice statue.  
  
Tidalmon frowned and he was about to fire another Tidal Wave when Icemon unleashed another Ice Jewel.  
  
As soon as the ice hit Tidalmon, something strange happened. His eyes started to flash and something started to come out of his back. As it came further out, the others realised it was some kind of black ball. When it had come all the way out, Tidalmon fell, headfirst, onto the sand.  
  
When Tidalmon fell down, Icemon started to glow. When the light faded, Snowmon was lying there, exhausted. Steve ran up to him.  
  
"Hey, are you all right?" Steve asked, concern in his voice.  
  
Snowmon opened his eyes and smiled," Of course I'm all right. That was easy!"  
  
Then, he raised his upper right foot, standing on his hind-legs. Understanding the gesture, Steve slapped his hand against it. Mary smiled.  
  
"Well, at least Steve's got someone to keep an eye on him," she thought and glanced at Jewelmon. She wondered if she would turn into a stronger creature. Then a look of worry appeared on her face," What if, when she digivolves, she won't want to be with me anymore!"  
  
Jewelmon could see the worry in Mary's face, "Wonder what's wrong?" she thought. She hoped it wasn't anything to do with her.  
  
Before Jewelmon could ask what was wrong, Steve stood up, holding Snowmon in his arms, "OK, we saw what happened. We need to find out where that ball came from. Let's go!"  
  
So saying, he started to stride away from the beach. The others followed, Mike at the rear. He thought," I'm not sure that Steve should be leader. But, if he's going to be I have to trust him.".  
  
WILL MIKE LEARN TO TRUST STEVE? AND WHAT IS THE SECRET OF THE MYSTERIOUS BLACK BALLS? FIND OUT ON THE NEXT DIGIMON: DIGITAL MONSTERS!  
  
Author's Note: Well, this was. short. Oh, and I forgot to put a disclaimer on my last episode, so. DIGIMON NO BELONG TO ME!!!!!!!!!! THE DAY IT DOES, TAITO AND DAIKEN WILL RULE SUPREME!!!!!! (Pause) Oh, and Omnimon would show up. He's cool. Plus, Change into Power would be played more often. I LOVE THAT SONG! (However, I got `Run Around` going round my head for almost the entire school day. Curses! ~_~. It's good song, but it gets a bit repetitive if you only know about 4 lines, and one of them is pure improvisation) 


	3. Serpentmon

Serpentmon  
  
The group kept heading forwards, not bothering to wonder where they were. It had been about 4 hours since the battle with Tidalmon. During that time, Steve and Mike had had four arguments (the most recent had been the most powerful), John had asked sixteen question, Violet had kicked two trees and Mary had drawn five pictures, all of the Digimon.  
  
Mary loved drawing. She was having the time of her life drawing the their Digimon. She had mastered most of the Digimon in all the Digimon series, as well as the humans, so it was nice to have new Digimon to draw. But she was still worried that Jewelmon would leave her if she digivolved.  
  
Jewelmon had noticed Mary's occasional worried expressions. She had mentioned it to Pearlmon, who promised to ask Violet about it. Still, Jewelmon couldn't help thinking, "Maybe it's something to do with Snowmon digivolving to Icemon. Or maybe it's something else," This last thought worried her. What if Mary wouldn't tell her what was wrong? It might be something that could hurt her.  
  
Little did Jewelmon know that she was half-right. Mary's worry could endanger her.  
  
But then, Mythicmon yelled something that shattered everyone's thoughts. He'd been flying about a metre or so in front of the group, so he could see further," Hey, I think I can see a cave or something like it. We could sleep there if it's deserted."  
  
Everyone looked up at the word `sleep`. Sure enough, there was something that looked like a cave not far away. Without saying anything, Steve raced towards it. Mike smiled and sprinted after him.  
  
Steve may have been an expert in the water, but Mike was the fastest boy in their school. He soon overtook Steve and reached the cave first. He then lent against the wall to wait for the others.  
  
As soon as Steve reached the cave, he blew up at Mike," Think you're so great, don't you! Always coming first in races and everything!"  
  
Mike shot back," Well, at least I don't splash around like an idiot at every chance I get!"  
  
Mary and John had arrived by now, and sighed. Mary turned back to see where Violet was and saw her about three metres away. She'd got slower walking since the Tidalmon episode. Everything seemed to catch her attention now. But when Pearlmon saw them waiting, she tugged her trouser leg, and she speeded up. When she saw the fight, she sighed and put her hands on her hips.  
  
She sighed so loudly that both Steve and Mike heard her and looked up. When they were both looking at her, she turned on her see-into-your- soul look. They both looked away. That look had ended every argument they'd had since getting to the Digital World. Well, apart from the one that had taken quite a lot of yelling. The boys' ears wouldn't stop ringing for five minutes afterwards.  
  
Violet shook her head and walked towards the cave. When she got there, she inspected it. "Big," she commented. Turning round, she noted the lake and smiled even more. Turning to look at the others, she said," It looks like a good place to spend the night."  
  
"Yes, but there is the question of food. What on earth are we going to eat?" John asked, raising an eyebrow.  
  
Steve, Mike and Violet all had rucksacks (John had one too, but it was filled by his computer and stuff for it), so they rummaged through them. Steve pulled out a swimming medal, a picture of his family (his parents were divorced), goggles, swimming trunks, a pair of sunglasses and a packet of plain crisps. Oh, and keys for his house were in his pocket.  
  
Mike found a packet of biscuits, a spare pair of trainers (ew! Think of the smell!), a medal for winning the most races at the previous sports day at school, a baseball cap and a melting chocolate bar. He quickly broke up the chocolate bar into five and gave everyone a piece (the Digimon insisted they could find their own food). His keys were in the front pocket.  
  
Violet produced her anorak, a first-aid kit, two pairs of sunglasses (one had black frames and the other had silver. Cool), a ham sandwich and her laptop. They decided to use the food sparingly until they could find more. The Digimon pointed out that with all the fruit trees, they could afford to save the food until it was needed, unless it started to go bad.  
  
After a good meal, Steve and Mike both volunteered to keep watch. They agreed, for once, that Steve would go first, then Mike would take over halfway through the night.  
  
The kids and their Digimon were all asleep in about half-an-hour, except for Mike. He just couldn't sleep. He went to sit by the lake, but Steve saw him.  
  
"What are you doing still awake? Don't you think I can deal with it?" Steve frowned.  
  
"No, I just couldn't sleep," Mike replied. Then, before Steve could say anything else, he hurried to the other side of the lake. Fishing around in his pocket, he found his mini-recorder.  
  
This wasn't the usual kind of recorder. It had been sent from his grandfather in Africa and it was one of those small, carved flute things. He stared at it, taking in the shape.  
  
His grandfather was dead now, but when he had been alive he and Mike had been best friends. He had been the only adult who acted as if his brother (Nick, genius. Think SAM here) was better. The old man had always called Mike `Tiger`, so the recorder was in that shape. Sighing as he remembered his friend, Mike lifted the recorder to his lips and began to play.  
  
The sound of the music drifted over the campsite, waking Firepentmon. He crawled out of the cave and saw Mike. After a few minutes quick crawling, he lay down next to Mike and said," Nice tune."  
  
Mike jumped. He'd been playing with his eyes closed, so he hadn't noticed Firepentmon. Blushing slightly, he replied," Thanks."  
  
Judging from his friend's expression, he wanted to hear more, so Mike settled down again to play an African song his grandfather had taught him.  
  
A peace covered the lake, to be stopped abruptly by a thunderous roar. Steve's eyes widened as he saw the trees behind Mike start to shake. Running to the edge, he yelled," Hey, Mike! Behind you!"  
  
Mike turned round and then jumped out of the way. A huge, green head with two spikes on it and black eyes pushed through the trees, jaws snapping to get at him.  
  
The others had heard the roar and run outside, "Hmmm," Violet said," I'm guessing we're in his cave." Mary clapped sarcastically.  
  
"Oh man, that's Tuskmon. He's a dinosaur Digimon who attacks with his Slamming Tusk. However, he's so big he can easily just chomp his enemies into lots of tiny bits instead," Pearlmon moaned. (Remember him? He was one of the Digimon Phantomon summoned in 01)  
  
The Digimon stomped forward, revealing the rest of his body. He had two red and black horn things coming out of his shoulders and a skull-and- crossbones sign below the left one. A line of spikes went along his back and he had a dangerous looking tail.  
  
Mike started to back away, but the Digimon was to fast, hitting him with his tail, knocking him into a tree and rendering him unconscious.  
  
"Mike!" Steve yelled, surprising himself with the way he felt about Mike being dead. The thought tore him apart.  
  
Tuskmon reached a huge clawed hand towards Mike, picking him up easily and transferring him to it's jaws. However, before it could chomp him in half, his digivice began to shine.  
  
A ball of light, just like the one when Snowmon had digivolved, shot out and hit Firepentmon. As soon as he was hit, he yelled out, "Firepentmon digivolve to Serpentmon!"  
  
When the light cleared, an extremely long snake was in Firepentmon's place. He was blood red, with a pink mask with white wings in it placed over his eyes, with holes for the eyes. He had gold rings with silver stripes attached to the head and joining it to the body. At the end of the long, long body was a gold and silver thing, like the thing at the end of a rattlesnake's tail. There were two more sets of white wings, the largest below the rings that represented a neck. The other, smaller pair was below the rattlesnake thing (All hail me, the mistress of descriptions!)  
  
Taking out his laptop, John typed in the name that Serpentmon had yelled out and read," Serpentmon: a snake Digimon that no one has ever seen the entire face of. He's the longest Digimon in Digiworld, so his Fire Suffocation attack always works."  
  
Serpentmon's tail shot out, curled around the body in Tuskmon's mouth and deposited it next to the others. Violet immediately sat next to him and took out her first aid. He had a nasty bruise on his back from where the tail had hit him, and an even nastier cut on both of his arms from the teeth.  
  
Serpentmon shot several times round Tuskmon, tying him up and smiled. Glowing suddenly, he shouted," Fire Suffocation!"  
  
Tuskmon's eyes grew large with trying to breathe, then a black ball shot out of him. He tumbled to the ground.  
  
Serpentmon flew over to Mike and went back to Firepentmon. When his claws touched Mike, his eyes opened slightly. He smiled when he saw Firepentmon, but then he felt the pain in his arms and grimaced. Violet said," You need to sleep for a bit. Don't worry, we'll tell you what happened when you wake up."  
  
When she'd finished, she passed him a drink of water. He drank it, with some help from John, then he passed out.  
  
WILL MIKE BE ALL-RIGHT? AND WHAT PART DOES THE BLACK BALLS PLAY? FIND OUT IN THE NEXT DIGIMON: DIGITAL MONSTERS!  
  
Author's Note: OK, here's the deal. I'm going to start doing the `1-every- five-reviews` when people realise I actually EXIST. Also, I think I'll dedicate every episode to a) someone who reviews, b) someone who asks NICELY in a review, and c) someone who does all of the above, PLUS writes good stories, PLUS doesn't insult me. So, going on these guidelines, GUARDIAN GREYMON! THIS IS FOR YOU!!!! (Gets dazed eyes, starts walking like a sleep-walker) I succumb to your Jedi powers. 


	4. Runaway Digivolving

Runaway Digivolving  
  
"Violet, when does this bandage come off?" Mike asked as they reached another rough bit they had to scramble over with difficulty. They'd been crawling up a hill that had been near the lake where they'd met the Tuskmon, except they hadn't seen all rough bits when they'd been at the bottom.  
  
Violet sighed. Mike had asked the same question for the last five hours, which was how long they had been crawling up the hill. She kept saying the same thing back, so maybe it was time to modify how she said it.  
  
After a pause, she began," Mike, how many times do I have to tell you the same thing? You've only had that bandage on for about ten hours and that sort of wound takes at least two or three days to heal. Perhaps you would prefer it if you just died from loss of blood, or being infected by some nasty bug getting into your blood stream, or both."  
  
Mike was a bit taken back by this. He'd never thought of Violet as a doctor, but she knew more about medical things than any other eleven-year- old he'd ever met. Shaking himself, he opened his mouth to protest, but she just gave him her I-know-what-you're-thinking look, and he stopped himself.  
  
Violet was glad he had shut up. It gave her a chance to talk to V.  
  
Ever since she was about two, she'd been haunted by a weird voice. It sounded just like her, except it wasn't at all like her. It was very easy to hear, for her, but no one else could hear it. It had become her companion, for a reason she could not remember. All she knew was that it was the only thing she could trust her secrets to, apart from Lizzie, her best friend. She had named it V, as it sounded like her, but it wasn't her.  
  
V had often looked like her too, when she saw her in her dreams. She was talking like crazy at that moment, so she listened, ~" You know he doesn't like the way you mother him." ~  
  
"I know," Violet thought back," But who else was going to do it, hmmm? Who did you have in mind?"  
  
~" Anyone could have asked you for the first aid kit. Even Steve. Can't you tell they like each other? You've always said that fighting is a sign of deep friendship. Well, there's an excellent example." ~  
  
Violet didn't reply. It was true, she had said that about fighting. Well, not about war, but the other kind of fighting.  
  
Just then, she realised Pearlmon was talking to her. Looking down at her Digimon, she said," Yes?"  
  
"Violet, we're stopping. Didn't you notice?" Pearlmon asked. Violet blinked and stopped. They had got to the top of the hill and she'd just kept walking. Blushing slightly, she hurried back to the others.  
  
"So glad you could join us," Steve said, sarcastically. Violet was about to say something back, when John interrupted.  
  
"What were you thinking?" he questioned.  
  
"Huh?" Violet said, caught by surprise.  
  
"You looked like you were thinking something," Mary explained.  
  
Mike, hurting Violet more than intended, said," Probably thinking of more ways to ruin my life."  
  
Violet felt as though he'd flung a dagger at her. She took a few seconds to answer," I was just thinking about those black balls."  
  
Everyone except Mike noticed the pause. Mary was about to ask why she had paused, when John hurriedly said," The sun is starting to set. We should find somewhere to sleep for the night."  
  
He was right. The sun was setting, but Firepentmon knew this area. He led them to a small pond where the water was fresh and Steve started to make a fire.  
  
A few hours later, when everyone except Violet and Pearlmon were asleep, Violet knelt by the pond to talk to V.  
  
When she was awake and near water, she could see V without needing to close her eyes. In the water, V shimmered into view.  
  
She looked just like Violet, but she had a picture of a dragon's head on her neck and three lines that went through her left eye.  
  
Violet smiled. She could actually talk to V aloud when she was alone, so Pearlmon was shocked to hear Violet talking to something that replied in her voice.  
  
"V, I'm not sure if I should stay with the group."  
  
~" Why?" ~ the mysterious voice replied. Pearlmon, sneaking up to water, making her flames almost go out so she wouldn't be seen in the water, was surprised to see someone who looked almost just like Violet in the water. It was possible for other people to see V when she was in the water.  
  
Violet, oblivious to the fact that Pearlmon was watching them, explained to V," Mike said he hated me."  
  
~" He did not." ~  
  
"Well, maybe not straight out, but I got the idea."  
  
~" He didn't mean it to hurt you. He was just annoyed about the bandage." ~  
  
"Yeah, but any of the others could have fixed him. Like you said, they just had to ask me for the bandage."  
  
~" You're serious about leaving, aren't you."  
  
"Yes. I just wanted to tell you. And see you. Well, come on then."  
  
She stood up and almost stepped on Pearlmon. Her eyes widened, then narrowed," Any reason why you're spying on me?" she asked, arms crossed.  
  
"I heard what you were saying. Can I come with you?"  
  
Violet wasn't expecting this. Then, V said, ~" She's your Digimon, remember? She's supposed to protect you." ~  
  
Violet smiled when she heard that, and then she nodded at Pearlmon. Before they left, Firpentmon stirred.  
  
Violet's digivice beeped. Holding it in front of her, she thought to V, " What's going on?"  
  
~" I can do a lot more than talk. I'm sending out some sleeping powder through your digivice." ~  
  
As soon as V `said` that, bright orange bits of dust came out of the screen on Violet's digivice. The powder spread out, covering the whole campsite in sparkly light. Firepentmon stopped stirring, falling into a deep sleep.  
  
Violet stared as the powder disappeared into the group's bodies. Then, when all of it had disappeared, she looked at Pearlmon. She understood, and they both slipped away, into the darkness.  
  
Snowmon felt the heat of the sun on his face so suddenly he thought a Greymon had used it's Nova Blast on him. He creaked his eyes open and was surprised to see the sun already high in the sky, as though it was 10 o'clock. But it couldn't be!  
  
Getting to his feet, shaking himself, he looked round. He was the first up! Walking over to the pond, he had a five-minute swim and when he got out, all the Digimon were awake. Except.  
  
"Hey!" he called, his voice sounding strange in the silence," Where's Pearlmon?"  
  
The other Digimon looked around, but they couldn't see her. Snowmon was about to wake Steve, when Firepentmon said," Wait a second, Violet's not here either!"  
  
Snowmon's eyes widened. Quickly, he bent down and bit Steve's hand.  
  
"YEEOW!" Steve screamed, sitting up immediately and shaking his hand," Jeez, what was that for?"  
  
Snowmon sighed, Steve wasn't going to like this.  
  
Three minutes later, Steve jumped up," What do you mean, they're gone?"  
  
"Exactly what I said, Steve. They're gone," Snowmon said. Steve stared round.  
  
"Why's everyone still asleep? It has to be at least ten o'clock!" Steve rushed over to Mary, shaking her," What's going on?" she asked, groggily.  
  
"Violet and Pearlmon are gone," Steve explained. She leapt up and helped him to wake up the others.  
  
When they were all awake and the situation had been described, Mike noticed that Firepentmon had a strange look on his face. Bending down, he asked," What's wrong?"  
  
Looking up at him, Firepentmon answered," I think I saw them leave. I was thirsty, so I woke up. My eyes had half-opened when I saw them looking at me. I kept still, as though I was about to wake up, but I kept my eyes slightly open. Violet's digivice beeped and started to send out some kind of orange sleep powder. I watched it sink into everyone and was about to leap up and stop them when I felt the powder sink into me too. The last thing I remember seeing is Violet's surprised face as she saw all the powder."  
  
The tiny fire snake had everyone's attention by now. John rubbed his chin," You mean, she hadn't expected the powder, although it came from her own digivice?"  
  
Firepentmon nodded. Mike put his head in his hands," She left because of me. It's all my fault."  
  
Steve frowned. Hadn't Mike said he thought Violet was ruining his life? He felt Snowmon nudge his hand and looked down. His Digimon looked as though he wanted to say something, so Steve bent down to listen," You know, I think they like each other. In fact, I can almost see the seeds of romance."  
  
Steve blinked. Then, looking at Mike, he realised Snowmon was right. Mike did seem to have a relationship with Violet that went beyond friendship. But first, he needed to comfort Mike.  
  
"Don't worry Mike. If Violet gets into any trouble, Pearlmon could digivolve. It's not impossible," Steve said, looking at Mike. Mike lifted his head up to look at Steve. Encouraged by this, Steve went on," And anyway, she's an expert in karate, judo and kickboxing, remember? It could take a lot to at least wound her, but maybe we should look for her anyway."  
  
Mike hadn't expected Steve to suggest that, but he found himself nodding. Holding his hand to his bandage, which had come loose, he got to his feet and said," Well, we'd better get going."  
  
Everybody nodded, but something was nagging at the back of Steve's mind. Something that Violet had said about Mike loosing his blood.  
  
The thought wouldn't come, so he just got up and led the group away from the campsite. He'd probably remember later.  
  
~" Violet, why did you get so hurt by what Mike said?" ~ V said as Violet stumbled along a rough path that ran next to a stream. She'd chosen that particular path so she could talk to V.  
  
Violet stared at V," Why?"  
  
~" I just think you're taking something a boy said extremely seriously." ~  
  
"Actually, I don't really know. I just felt as though he had flung a knife at me. It felt rather strange."  
  
V smiled and sang, ~ "Can you feel the love tonight?" ~ Violet stopped and stared at V, "What?" V just smiled at her. Then she heard Pearlmon calling for her, so she ran to her.  
  
"I can see the others from here. I think you should see them," Pearlmon explained. Violet looked at her, then at the group that was visible from the high bit of rock she was on. V was back in her head.  
  
~" Mike's losing blood," ~ She pointed out. Violet felt something inside her rip. He was losing so much blood, it was obvious he couldn't hold on for much longer. As she watched, he fell.  
  
Steve heard the thump behind him and spun round. Mike was lying on the ground a couple of metres away, unconscious. He ran back to him. He remembered what Violet had said now," Perhaps you would prefer it if you just died from loss of blood."  
  
When he got to Mike, he saw the bandage had come off entirely, blood pumping freely from Mike's wound. Trying to think of what he could use as a substitute, he suddenly heard a voice in his head that sounded just like Violet, ~ "There's a palm leaf you can use to your left."~  
  
Frowning slightly, he turned to his left and saw the palm leaf. Mary and John had heard the thump, and were standing next to Mike as they watched Steve pick up the palm leaf and check it for bugs. He took it over to the stream Violet had been walking along and washed it in the clear water.  
  
He brought it back to Mike, and the others stared as he expertly tied it around Mike's arm in a perfect mock-bandage, stopping the flow of blood. John, rubbing his neck, asked," Where on earth did you learn to make a bandage like that?"  
  
Steve, sticking a safety pin that had been in his pocket into the bandage to keep it in place, replied," My dad's a doctor. In fact, that was why he divorced with my mum."  
  
He stood up, stretched and scratched his head. He was about to say something else, when they heard an evil laugh and the sound of something coming towards them," Uh oh," Mary said.  
  
Violet stared as she saw something that looked like a grey ghost with an eyeball necklace and a red cloak with a radiation sign (a skull with three curved rectangles around it) on it coming towards the others. It was carrying a gold scythe, a silver mace and it had black eyes, except they weren't exactly visible in the darkness under the hood.  
  
Next to her, Pearlmon bristled," I know that guy," she said," He's Phantomon, a ghost Digimon who can cut through anything with his Shadow Scythe. The others will have a problem beating him, because he's an ultimate Digimon!"  
  
Steve frowned. Holding his digivice up at Snowmon, he said, " Snowmon, digivolve!"  
  
"Snowmon digivolve to Icemon!"  
  
The ice beast leapt at Phantomon, but the ghost just floated to the side.  
  
"Do you really think you can beat me that easily? Shadow Scythe!" the Digimon said, swinging his scythe into Icemon, forcing him to go back to Snowmon.  
  
Turning towards Mike's limp body, the evil Digimon said," I'm in the mood for chopped boy!" as he launched himself at Mike.  
  
Violet wouldn't watch Mike die without a fight. Leaping off the rock, she landed on Phantomon, pulling his hood over his eyes.  
  
Phantomon wasn't expecting this, but he could deal with it. He easily shrugged her off and raised his scythe.  
  
Mary stood there with her mouth open. They'd finally found Violet, and now she was going to DIE!  
  
However, Pearlmon had other ideas. Following Violet's example, she jumped onto Phantomon and yelled," Pearl Burn!"  
  
It was no use. A mere fireball wouldn't stop an ultimate Digimon, as Phantomon proved, brushing through the flame as though it was air. He turned back to Violet and twirled his mace around her neck, strangling her. Any moment now she would die from suffocation.  
  
But that moment didn't come. Her digivice glowed and shot out a familiar ball of light at Pearlmon. As it hit her, she yelled," Pearlmon digivolve to Flakemon!"  
  
Pearlmon was now a long, purple snake with a luminous pink helmet that had a gold lightning bolt going through the eyehole. It had a plume of flames on it's head, another lot of fire around it's green rattlesnake's tail. It had green rings, just like Serpentmon's, representing a neck and a pair of pink wings with a picture of fire on each of them.  
  
The angry snake whipped out his tail, knocking the mace out of Phantomon's hands. Violet got to her feet, rubbing her neck.  
  
Snowmon said," I know her. She's Flakemon, a snake Digimon who curls herself up to make her attack, Flame Wheel. And once she aims, it's almost impossible for her to miss!"  
  
Mary ran to Violet and asked," Are you OK?"  
  
Violet looked and her and replied," Do I look OK?" Mary wasn't sure if that was sarcasm or not.  
  
However, all Violet was interested in was Phantomon's back. There was some kind of black energy coming from it. Then she clicked her fingers and shouted to her Digimon," Flakemon, aim for his back!"  
  
The fire snake, upon hearing that, circled round behind Phantomon, curled himself into a wheel shape and was consumed by fire. She cried out," Flame Wheel!" and shot at the energy.  
  
As soon as she hit Phantomon's back, his eyes flashed and out came a familiar black ball. Phantomon fell to the ground.  
  
Flakemon flashed and shrank to Pearlmon. The small fire Digimon ran to Violet, who picked her up and hugged her. As Pearlmon smiled in the embrace, she felt something wet on Violet's neck. She looked and saw an open cut. She pointed it out to Violet, who took a plaster out of her first- aid kit and put it over the cut.  
  
"I must have got it from that mace," Violet said. Then, without warning, Mary was hugging her as well, saying," Violet, I'm so glad you're all right. You were so brave!"  
  
Violet pushed her off, embarrassed, and asked her, "Is Mike OK?" Then, without waiting for an answer, she knelt by him and checked his palm-leaf bandage carefully.  
  
Snowmon smiled at Steve, and said," See, what did I tell you? Love seeds," Steve smiled back and glanced at the group.  
  
John had been rather quiet, but now he spoke," You guys, I think that proves we should stay together."  
  
Steve stared at him. John had changed completely since they had come to the Digital World. Back on Earth, he would be asking questions, not saying what he thought. Come to think of it, in a way, they had all changed.  
  
It felt freaky, thinking that he wasn't who he used to be. But then, he had a disturbing thought," What if the others are changing, and I'm not? Maybe I should leave the group to find out," He shook himself. No, he couldn't run away.  
  
But as the group, all together again, settled down to wait for Mike to wake up, Steve and Mary had one thing in common. They both felt that the others were different from themselves. And that thought could put them in danger.  
  
WILL STEVE LEAVE THE GROUP? AND WILL MIKE SURVIVE FROM THE LOSS OF BLOOD? FIND OUT ON THE NEXT DIGIMON, DIGITAL MONSTERS!  
  
Author's Note: LONG................... Now, any comments. (looks back, then jumps about 6 feet in the air (to do this, she went through the roof. Ouch)) YAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGHHHHHHHH!!!! WHERE THE BLINKIN' **** DID V COME FROM???????????????? Well, actually, now I'm well into the series, I know where she's from, but I still have NO idea where in my mind she came from. Oh this wonderful. My brain is creating Mysterious Voices. Fab. 


	5. Phoenix Fire

Phoenix Fire!  
  
Mike had finally opened his eyes when Violet poured some water over his face, impatient. She'd insisted he'd slept enough, but he was still a bit crabby from the rude awakening. However, he had calmed down a bit from the fact that Violet had come back.  
  
The group had been heading north, judging by the wind, which John had judged as the North Wind (how he knew this was anyone's guess). It had been getting colder, but they hadn't noticed until John had pointed it out.  
  
John had been more helpful lately, as he computer needed to be recharged. However, he couldn't find a power source to plug it in to. Violet had offered her computer, but he insisted she should save it's power, in case they needed it.  
  
John was near the back of the group, talking to Mythicmon about the three digivolutions they'd seen in the last four days," Do you know what you digivolve into?" John asked.  
  
"No. We don't know until it happens. All I know is we usually digivolve into something that has something in common with our previous forms. For example, Flakemon was a fire Digimon, just like Pearlmon. So, I'll probably digivolve into some mythical Digimon," Mythicmon answered.  
  
John realised that Mythicmon was right. All the Digimon he'd ever seen digivolve, including the ones on T.V, had had something in common with their digivolved forms. Biyomon had become a bigger bird, Gabumon had become a larger snow wolf, and Patamon had become something that had wings.  
  
Then there were the ultimate forms. Did their Digimon have ultimate forms? If so, would their Digimon just become more advanced? Pearlmon becoming a bigger snake, for example. Then he remembered something his father, a computer expert, had told him.  
  
"Sometimes you have to use things that you don't think exist in order to make things make sense. Like the square root of minus one. There's no concrete proof it exists, but any number of things can happen with it that couldn't happen without it."  
  
Maybe that was the case here. There wasn't any concrete proof the Digimon always digivolved into advanced forms of their previous selves, but it was much easier to say they did.  
  
Suddenly, he noticed Steve was talking to him, "John, I think I can see something like a power plant ahead. Could you find something there that you could use to power up your computer?"  
  
John squinted ahead, and, sure enough, there was a power plant ahead. He nodded at Steve, who motioned to the others that they were heading there. It took a while, and the sun was setting when they reached it.  
  
" Maybe we could sleep in there. That is, if it's safe," Mike said, turning to Firepentmon, who sighed.  
  
"Mike, I don't know everywhere in the Digiworld. It's much too big. However, I think Pearlmon knows it," the snake Digimon said, turning to Pearlmon as he finished.  
  
"It's not a place you should stay in without checking it's safe. We need to make sure it doesn't have any hostile Digimon if we're going to stay here," she said to the group.  
  
"Just as well John needs to power his computer up. While he does that, we can check for evil Digimon." Violet said, looking at the sun. Steve nodded, and the group walked in. Far away, a figure watched them and smiled.  
  
"Wow, look at the size of that battery!" John yelled as they walked by it," I bet I could plug into that and easily have enough power.  
  
He rushed over to it and started searching for somewhere to plug in. The others looked at each other," John, do you want us to go ahead? You could catch up when you've finished," Snowmon suggested, itchy to keep walking.  
  
John nodded, so they left. Mythicmon was looking at the other side, and suddenly shouted," Hey, I think I've found a door!"  
  
The boy rushed round and saw that the Digimon was right. After a moment's hesitation, he opened it and stepped in. It slammed shut behind him, but not before Mythicmon flew through after him. They were trapped.  
  
Meanwhile, the others had found some kind machine Digimon that was just standing there, limp. Apparently, it wasn't activated. Jewelmon flew forwards to see who it was, then swooped back to Mary's shoulder in terror.  
  
"Oh man, it's Mekanorimon! He's a machine Digimon with a nasty temper. His Twin Beam is deadly and he has a killer aim. Be thankful he's deactivated!"  
  
Just then, something burst through the ceiling. Looking up, they saw a black ball heading straight for Mekanorimon. It hit the Digimon and immediately he was activated. He saw the digidestined and raised his arms," Twin Beam!"  
  
John traced around the letters that surrounded the interior of the battery and thought," They look just like the letters on the battery Izzy gets stuck in the first series. But these look slightly different." He turned to look at Mythicmon when he got another thought," Maybe these are Mythicmon's data. I have to find out."  
  
He took his computer out of his rucksack and turned it on. As he waited for it to load Microsoft Word, he thought of the day his father had given it to him.  
  
It had been his seventh birthday. He remembered clearly the look on his father's face as he ripped open the wrapping paper to reveal an old computer. It was a look of trust, as though he had had to ignore his conscience in order to give it to him  
  
The old computer had some interesting codes for him to break, such as one that revealed itself to be something to do with Digimon. It called itself a Digimon Analyser. There was all sorts of information that the one on TV had had.  
  
Just then, he noticed Mythicmon was pecking him. The Digimon said, "John, are you alright?"  
  
The boy nodded, then started to type in the numbers and signs that surrounded them: *****@@@@?.£68350(){}[]~~~~+_+###'''076894;:/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\\//\\/\//\ \//\\/\/\//\/\////////////\\\\\\\\\\\\\\$4||||||¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬````****"""!(&^&%$^_ ^+===+=+_+#_#~_~^_~:)(((.  
  
"OW! Stop it, it hurts!" Mythicmon cried out. John looked up.  
  
Parts of Mythicmon were glowing, but smoke was coming from them, as if they were burning. John deleted the last (, saved, in case he needed it later, then exited.  
  
However, the door had opened when he'd typed in the data, so he slammed the lid down, and together they ran (or flew) out to find the others.  
  
The others, in fact, were running like mad to find John. Then they could get out of the power plant. Suddenly, they collided with John and the boy fell backwards.  
  
"John, we have to get out of here! There's a Mekanorimon chasing us and a black ball went into him," Mike yelled, pulling the boy to his feet.  
  
Just then, the machine smashed through the wall. Mike raised his digivice, ready to command Firepentmon to digivolve. However, John stopped him," Trust me, I can take care of this."  
  
He opened the Word document and looked at Mythicmon. The Digimon nodded and flew forwards. John typed (.  
  
Immediately, Mythicmon glowed again, except this time it spread throughout his body. He shouted," Mythicmon digivolve to Phoenixomon!"  
  
In the place where Mythicmon had been flying was a blood-red bird with red talons and an orange belly and beak. There was a flame sticking out of his head, like hair that's been starched wrong. There was a picture of fire on his belly, another, slightly curved one, on each of his cheeks and one more, smaller, on his forehead.  
  
John's Digimon Analyser flashed up a picture and some writing. Leaning forwards slightly, he read," Phoenixomon is a firebird Digimon. He is always prepared to cook enemies with his Phoenix Fire attack, but normally he's a peaceful Digimon."  
  
Mekanorimon attacked first, ignoring the fact that his opponent had changed shape. He raised his arms and was about to fire, when Phoenixomon swooped in front of him and raised his wings," Phoenix Fire!"  
  
Fire shot out of his wings at Mekanorimon. The machine Digimon didn't have time to move out of the way and the fire hit him right on target. The black ball came out and disappeared.  
  
Phoenixomon smiled and flew onto John's shoulder. As soon as he touched down, he turned back into Mythicmon. The Digimon rubbed his head against John's, and the boy stroked his feathers.  
  
Far away, the figure watched the touching scene and then moved it's sight to the smiling girl with the Pearlmon and then on to the owner of the Jewelmon. It knew the Jewelmon girl's problems with digivolving and planned to use them to get what she wanted. Turning back to the brown-haired girl, it leant back and thought of what to do next...  
  
WHO IS THE MYSTERIOUS FIGURE? AND WHAT DOES IT WANT WITH VIOLET? FIND OUT ON THE NEXT DIGIMON: DIGITAL MONSTERS!  
  
Author's Note: OK, quick thing to put in here before I comment. Since I'm going to be referring to them by hair colour a lot, here they are, so you know: Steve: Blonde, quite spiky. Mike: Raven, tends to be brushed to the right. Violet: Dark brown, fringe with side parting. Mary: Long black hair that comes down to around her elbows, no fringe. John: Brown, almost black, straight parting.  
  
Now that's out of the way, comments. Hmm... Well, I'm sorry about the likenesses between this and the first Izzy eppy. I was running out of ideas. The `Imaginary number` theory belongs to Lord Asriel from Northern Lights, which belongs to Philip Pullman. Digimon belongs to the Digi Powers that Be (Bandai, Toei, whatever). John's Dad gave him the computer when he was seven because... He did. There's no particular reason. I just wanted to get it in there. Now, until our destinies cross again, watch out for the Devimon!  
  
Lady Moon 


	6. DigiPast, DigiPresent

Digi-Past, Digi-Present  
  
A day after the Mekanorimon incident, the group was walking towards a large mountain. Actually, as Violet put it, large `Didn't even begin to do it justice`!  
  
Violet was feeling very strange, as if a part of her had already been here, and it wasn't nice. Turning to Pearlmon, she asked, "What's that mountain called?"  
  
Pearlmon looked at her and replied, "Infinity Mountain."  
  
Steve stopped and stared at the Digimon, "You mean the one where the original digidestined beat Devimon?"  
  
Violet, meanwhile, felt a shiver go through her. Hurriedly, she thought to V, "What's going on?"  
  
~ "Ancestry. A relation of yours had a bad experience there." ~  
  
Violet stopped in surprise. A relation of hers had been to the Digital World? Impossible! Still.  
  
Pearlmon nudged the back of her legs, "Hello, Digiworld to Violet? Feel free to return to the planet at any time!" Violet looked back and saw the others setting up camp next to the river they had been walking next to. She hurried back and busied herself with helping the Digimon find food.  
  
Mary looked at Violet as her friend picked the fruit Pearlmon had gestured to. Violet had looked funny when she had found out what the mountain was called, but maybe it was just shock.  
  
Then Mary's thoughts turned to digivolving. She glanced at Jewelmon and found herself wondering what Digimon she would become. Then she was shocked at her thoughts. She actually wanted her to digivolve, although she might leave her! Just then, someone tapped her on her shoulder and she turned to see Violet.  
  
"I think I've worked out your problem." The brown-haired girl said, smiling, "It's Jewelmon digivolving, isn't it? You're afraid she'll leave you."  
  
Mary stared, then found herself nodding. Violet smile widened, then continued, "You know, it's dangerous to think that. If you don't trust your Digimon, she won't be able to protect you. Sometimes you need to take risks." She walked away then, leaving Mary to her confused thoughts.  
  
Later, they all tucked in for the night. Steve lay beside Snowmon, who was lying next to the stream. Mike was leaning against a tree, playing his recorder, with Firepentmon next to him. John listened next to the Digimon, his own perched above him. Violet lay on her back, looking at the moon, Pearlmon staring beside her. And Mary looked into the water, thinking about what Violet had said. Jewelmon was perched on her shoulder, looking at the ripples made by Snowmon's hanging tail.  
  
Eventually they all fell asleep, and all with different thoughts. Steve wondered what was on the mountain, Mike wondered if they'd find the source of the black balls soon, John wondered if any Digimon would attack during the night, Violet wondered who her ancestor was (V wouldn't give any clues) and Mary wondered what she should do about her fear of digivolving.  
  
Far away, a figure watched, enveloped in darkness. It laughed silently, "That's right digidestined, worry about trivial details. You'll be worrying about more important things soon."  
  
A white kitten padded towards her. It had a long, thin white and purple tail and There was purple at the ends of it's ears. It also wore green gloves with orange stripes on them. The tip of a scar showed above the left glove.  
  
The figure turned towards it, "Yes, Gatomon?" The Digimon shivered slightly, but stood her ground.  
  
"Do you have to do this? You heard what the girl said, you have to trust your Digimon. I don't trust you because you're not who you used to be. I don't want to become DarkGatomon."  
  
The figure clenched a gloved hand, "You know you don't have a choice. When I deal with the Violet-child, you will be begging me to turn you into LadyDevimon." It touched it's black pendant that was around it's neck, and started to glow.  
  
When it stopped glowing, a straight brown-haired young woman in her early twenties was standing there. She wore a pink streamer which hung from each of her arms. Her pink suit covered her up to below her neck (I bet you can guess what it's covering.) and stopped after her `padded area`. Part of some kind of cloak appeared on it around the waist, finishing around her legs, and pink boots came up to almost her knees. She had the same black pendant around her neck, but then it glimmered and became pink as well. She fondled it lovingly, remembering how she had made it from her data, "The crest of Darkness," she thought," the opposite of Light. My true crest."  
  
The computer screen she had been viewing flickered and a picture of a sleeping boy with a tiger shaped recorder appeared. The woman smiled, imagining the Violet-girl's reaction to him missing. Then she strode off. Gatomon watched her go, and murmured, "Kari."  
  
Mike wasn't sure why he woke up. All he knew was that when he opened his eyes he saw the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. She smiled and raised one hand, beckoning. Dimly he tried to resist, but some kind of pink light came from her eyes, and he couldn't resist. He got up, and went to her.  
  
Firepentmon felt Mike get up and opened his eyes slightly, just like he had when Violet had left. Mike was walking towards a woman who was wearing a pink pendant. What was he doing? The woman walked into the forest, and Mike followed without looking back.  
  
Firepentmon scrambled up, but the boy was gone. He was shocked for a second and was about to follow when something leapt onto him. He threw it off and turned to see a Gatomon.  
  
She spread out her paws and pleaded, "Sorry, but I need your help. That girl was my digidestined, but she's been consumed by darkness. She's going to use that boy to get the girl."  
  
Firepentmon gaped. There was only one digidestined with a Gatomon and it was Kari. Kari was evil now? And which girl could she attract with Mike?  
  
Then he had it. Violet. She had strong feelings for Mike, anyone could see that, but why did an evil person need her? As if seeing his confusion, Gatomon gestured to two rocks facing each other, "Sit down. I'll explain."  
  
He climbed onto the rock and she leapt onto the other. She quickly cleaned herself, then began her story, "It started when the original digidestined came to visit. A digiport had opened, so they took the opportunity to pay us a visit. They decided to split up to see the places they wanted to see and Kari went to see Infinity Mountain. She'd heard so much about it, she had to see it.  
  
"When we started climbing, her digivice started to react to something. We kept going and eventually arrived at the spot where Devimon had been killed. Suddenly, these black gears shot out of the ground and became Devimon. He smiled at us and I attacked."  
  
She paused for a second and flexed her claws. Firepentmon was shocked that she could be so calm when talking about something like this. Eventually, she continued, "I went straight through him. He was just a hologram. But what he did was real enough.  
  
"He said that he was not dead, but he needed a vehicle for his evil. Then he glowed and shot towards Kari. There was nothing that could save her, but I still blame myself.  
  
"When he hit her, she turned into a black shape. It hung in the air, changing shape, until it became normal coloured again. She was a Digimon. An evil one with the power of Devimon. Her name was Witchmon.  
  
"The other digidestined were shocked when they found out. They would have gone after her, but they couldn't attack her without hurting her. Hand of Fate would turn her back, but she would die and besides, they were too old to have another fight. They went back to Earth, worried about Kari's child.  
  
"They had all had kids, but Kari's was raised by Tai, as a sort of compensation. The flame of the digidestined passed down to them, then onto their kids. But Tai's grandchild seemed. strange. Somehow, she was different. Her name was Violet.  
  
"All of the digidestined had a feeling she would bring Kari back to good. Unfortunately, that included Kari herself. She had been watching everything, using her magic to view the real world. While all this was happening, she had reconstructed her crest, except it was the opposite of her true crest. It was called the crest of Darkness.  
  
"Using this crest, she could turn me into DarkGatomon, then digivolve me into LadyDevimon, but something happened. The new digidestined wouldn't allow it, in particular, Violet. That little girl stopped a champion Digimon. Some kind of magic, the same kind as Witchmon's, but for good, came out of her. I've heard of it, but I can't remember when.  
  
"Anyway, at that moment their crests were born. All I know about them is that they are Leadership, Protection, Inspiration, Sensibility and Peace. Also, Izzy's crest was revived for his grandchild. That's about all I know."  
  
By this time, all the other Digimon had woken up and were listening with interest. At the end of Gatomon's story, Firepentmon hurriedly told them about Mike leaving.  
  
Snowmon's reaction was to wake Steve, but before he could, something knocked him away. Looking up, he saw a grey bunny, except it was standing like a human, had long, jagged ears, a long tail with a band round it and sharp claws on his hands and feet.  
  
Jewelmon immediately knocked him back with a Jewel Strike, "I know that Digimon. He may seem harmless, but beware! Gazimon always travel in packs, so whenever they outnumber you, which is often, they'll waste no time in attacking with their Electric Stun Blast."  
  
Just then, thousands of Gazimon jumped out of the trees to avenge their fallen comrade. Hearing the racket, the children woke up. The attacking Digimon split up, about twenty per human.  
  
Steve, Violet and John all commanded their Digimon to digivolve. As the digivices glowed, so did the Digimon.  
  
"Snowmon digivolve to Icemon!"  
  
"Pearlmon digivolve to Flakemon!"  
  
"Mythicmon digivolve to Phoenixomon!"  
  
Mary was in trouble. A Gazimon was heading for her, about to shock her with his attack. He was about to fire his attack, when she remembered what Violet had said, "If you don't trust your Digimon, she can't protect you."  
  
Turning to her Digimon, Mary said, "Jewelmon, I'm sorry." Jewelmon was puzzle, "Why?" Mary, steeling herself, continued, "I didn't trust you. I was afraid you'd leave me if you digivolved."  
  
The Digimon blinked, then smiled, "That's OK. I'm just glad you told me in the end."  
  
Mary threw her arms around the Digimon and hugged her. As they embraced, her digivice started to glow. A glowing ball shot at Jewelmon and she was consumed by light. Mary let go in surprise, and scrambled back. Then her Digimon yelled out, "Jewelmon digivolve to Diamondmon!"  
  
Jewelmon had become a large, white Persian cat. There was a picture of a diamond on her back and two white wings with silver and gold feathers were attached to it. A gold circle surrounded the top half of the diamond and a silver one was around the bottom half. There was a picture of a diamond on each of her legs and a real one on her head. Her right ear was gold and her left was silver. There was a gold band around her tail and her tail hairs were gold and silver.  
  
Mary smiled as the Digimon turned to look at her, "Still scared?" Her digidestined shook her head, and the cat Digimon smiled, "Well you shouldn't be. I'm Diamondmon, Jewelmon's champion form. I'm as graceful as any cat, and my Diamond Strike attack will put a dent in any enemy's plans!"  
  
The cat Digimon lowered her head at the Gazimon, "Diamond Strike!" The diamond shot of her head straight at the Digimon, scattering them.  
  
Meanwhile, Violet was having her own problems. A Gazimon was charging at her, claws outstretched. She shut her eyes, bracing for the impact and felt a burning hot pain spread across her left eye.  
  
"Violet!" Flakemon cried out, and knocked down the Gazimon. The evil Digimon were having problems. The five champions (including Gatomon) were making small work of the rookies. They fled.  
  
Flakemon went back to Pearlmon and hurried over to her digidestined. Violet's eye was covered in blood, but it should be OK.  
  
Firepentmon had held his ground with Gatomon, but the loss of Mike had taken its toll on him and he collapsed.  
  
When he woke up, the others were surrounding him. Somehow, he managed to tell his story, with Gatomon helping. This was excluding the whole `Kari is evil and you are related to TV stars` thing. It wasn't quite time for them to find out. Steve kicked a rock in annoyance when they'd finished.  
  
"Well, I guess we'll have to find him," he said, hoping it wouldn't take too long. Violet shook her head.  
  
"No, I need to go alone. The trap's for me, so I have to save him without putting anyone else in danger."  
  
There was an argument, but eventually they agreed to follow her at a safe distance. She gingerly took her hand off her eye and the others saw a scar just like V's, except only Pearlmon realised it looked like hers.  
  
Violet, glancing in the water, saw the similarity instantly. Nervously, she walked towards the mountain, Pearlmon at her side.  
  
Steve had his own disturbing thoughts to deal with as they walked behind her. He tried to shut them out, but it was hard. Eventually, he listened, "What if, when we find Mike, he won't want to come back because of me? I'm really starting to think I should leave the group."  
  
He walked on, unaware that his grandfather had faced a plight almost identical to his own.  
  
WILL THE DIGIDESTINED SAVE MIKE? AND CAN THEY RETURN KARI TO GOOD? FIND OUT ON THE NEXT DIGIMON: DIGITAL MONSTERS! Author's Note: (Newsreader's voice) And today, Lady Moon was arrested by the Digimon Police for making way too large changes to the end of Season 2. (Normal voice) I mean, come on, can I change the plot in any other way? Oh, and Kari's outfit is a combination of the front cover of `Etherlords` (great game), Aleema's outfit at the end of `Dark Lords of the Sith` (Star Wars graphic novel), and my own twisted imagination. Oh, and do you want to know something useless? IT WAS MY BIRTHDAY FOUR DAYS AGO! WHEE!!!!!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!!!!!! (Starts singing. Badly) I FEEL HAPPY, OH SO HAPPY, I FEEL HAPPY AND WACKY AND BRIGHT!!!!!!!! (Sung to the tune of `I feel pretty`. `I feel pretty` and Digimon don't belong to me. Only the digidestined, their Digimon and Witchmon belong to me. Steal and die.) 


	7. Captured

Captured!  
  
Violet gaped at the huge door that she and Pearlmon had found. It was built right into the mountain, but strangely, it didn't look out of place.  
  
She looked back at the group behind her. They'd stopped to rest when she had reached the door, and all were making themselves comfortable, while she tried to figure out how to open the door. Steve was discussing something with Snowmon, John was typing on his computer, Mythicmon perched on his shoulder, and Mary was trying to sketch Jewelmon, who was perched on a log.  
  
Firepentmon was leaning against the other side of the log, talking to Gatomon. The two had become inseparable during the journey, Gatomon telling him tales of her life with Myotismon and after. Violet felt a twinge of guilt as she remembered that she was the reason why Mike was not there with them.  
  
~ "Stop it," ~ V scolded, ~ "You're the only one who can go through that door. If you keep thinking about how you are leaving them behind, you won't find the courage to go on. As long as you have courage, your ancestor will be watching you. He may be still living, but his digital self will be with you." ~  
  
"Courage? Wait, you mean I'm related to T." Violet started to think, but Pearlmon interrupted.  
  
"Violet, are we going in or what?" the fire Digimon asked, impatient. Violet looked down and nodded. Raising a shaking hand, she knocked three times. Boom.boom.boom.  
  
Suddenly, a sinister voice echoed over the group," Hello there. You took longer than I expected, but never mind. You're here now and that's the important thing. All right, Violet, put your right hand on the control pad next to the door. Only you and Pearlmon can enter. If any of the others try to come in with you, the boy dies."  
  
They all stared at the door, then at the pad that had appeared next to it. Violet and Pearlmon looked at each other. She stretched out her right hand and pressed firmly on the pad. There was a rumbling noise and then the door just melted away.  
  
She gripped the straps on her rucksack, muttered," Hakuna Matata," and stepped into the opening, Pearlmon at her heels. As soon as she was about three steps inside, the door melted back.  
  
Mary stared at the space where Violet had been standing. Steve, noticing her expression, said," Don't worry. They only said we couldn't go in with her. They didn't say we couldn't go in after her."  
  
"Yeah, but how do we get in?" Mary asked, raising an eyebrow.  
  
Steve winked, "Don't worry, I have a plan. Mary, since you're the only one with a Digimon which has wings and is big enough to carry you, you see if there's a window or something we can get in through. John, you see if you can get that control pad to work for us and Snowmon and I will see if there's a way in through the waterways."  
  
As Firepentmon listened, he remembered what Gatomon had said about the crests, "All I know is that they are Leadership, Protection, Inspiration, Sensibility and Peace."  
  
Was Leadership Steve's crest? He certainly acted like it, but he couldn't be sure. What if he was Inspiration or something?  
  
Steve, of course, was oblivious to the Digimon's thoughts. But Kari, who was watching them, did know them. She frowned, then turned away to watch Violet's progress.  
  
"Violet?" Pearlmon said as they trudged along.  
  
"Yeah?" she answered, not really listening.  
  
"What's that tune you're whistling?"  
  
"Hakuna Matata. It means no worries, so I thought it would be appropriate for the occasion. Do you want to hear the words?"  
  
Pearlmon nodded, so Violet began,  
  
"Hakuna Matata,  
  
What a wonderful phrase!  
  
Hakuna Matata,  
  
Ain't no passing craze!  
  
It means no worries, for the rest of your days.  
  
It's my problem free philosophy,  
  
Hakuna Matata!"  
  
As she sang, Pearlmon started to feel different. Before, she'd felt like there wasn't much chance they could save Mike. Now, she felt quite the opposite. She smiled as Violet launched into another one, called I just Can't Wait to be King.  
  
John squinted at the markings that were etched around the pad. He had only just noticed them, but then again, he hadn't been looking closely. They read ~_^(^_~(*_*(O_o(((. Also, there was a picture on the actual pad.  
  
He realised it was the perfect image of his digivice. At that thought, he smiled. He held his digivice in his right hand and pressed against the pad. The door immediately melted away. He looked at Mythicmon, who flew off to find the others.  
  
Mary was almost knocked off Diamondmon when Mythicmon came shooting up to them. However, when the Digimon told them his news, she grinned and Diamondmon shot down.  
  
~ "That's enough singing. A door is just ahead. It leads to where Mike is," ~ V reprimanded as Violet reached the end of singing Circle of Life. Sure enough, there was a door set into the wall.  
  
As soon as she stepped towards it, it melted away. Pearlmon leapt onto her shoulder, and she stepped bravely through.  
  
The other digidestined, Digimon at their heels, ran as fast as they could through the passages. Gatomon ran ahead, with Firepentmon not far behind. They rounded a corner and saw a dead end.  
  
"Violet's already been here. If she hadn't, a door would be here. We need to work out how to get in, as I don't know. I was never told," Gatomon said, spreading discouragement through the group.  
  
However, Steve stepped towards the wall," I don't know about you guys, but I'm not going to let a little thing like that stop me from saving our friends. I'll find a way in, even if it kills me."  
  
Gatomon smiled at the word `friends`. His grandfather would be proud of him.  
  
"Mike!" Violet yelled. The boy was slumped on the floor, as if asleep. Except, when she shook him, he wouldn't wake up.  
  
"Don't try, it won't work. He is under my control." A voice said behind her. She spun round and saw the palest woman she had ever seen. In fact, she was practically white. She wore a long-sleeved black dress with a gold star in the centre. Her hands were hidden behind black leather gloves. She also wore black and silver tights and black shoes. On her head, she wore a black witch hat with a silver spider web on it. Her black hair was streaked with silver, and the black pendant round her neck seemed to glitter with a life of it's own. Her eyes were a piercing brown and in her hand, she held a silver wand.  
  
The woman smiled at her, "My name is Witchmon. My Witch Spell can be adapted to any situation and I even have the power to change into a human. I have been waiting for you, Violet. Behold my power." She raised her wand, "Witch Spell!"  
  
Gold dust came out of her wand tip, covering Violet. The girl tried to fight it, but it was no use. She fell asleep, sent into a slumber by the spell.  
  
Gatomon's ears twitched. She heard the attack shouted, followed by a thump, which must have been Violet. Firepentmon heard it too, but didn't know what it meant. Gatomon explained and his eyes widened. They stepped forwards to tell the other Digimon.  
  
There was a strange voice in Violet's head. As she slept, it became clearer. It sounded familiar, like V, except there was a new strength in it, a bit like their Digimon's voices at Champion Level.  
  
* "Hey, Violet. You've got to wake up. You've got to fight the spell. Listen to me!" *  
  
As it spoke, Violet felt a strength in her. She could feel it surging through her, chasing away the gold dust that had embedded itself in her. She shivered, and Witchmon frowned.  
  
How was that girl moving when she was in a spell sleep? The Digimon shook herself. She'd probably just imagined it. She turned away.  
  
Violet opened her eyes slightly, then fully. She carefully rolled to one side, out of Witchmon's line of sight, and got up. The Digimon hadn't noticed.  
  
~ "Violet, get Pearlmon to distract her somehow. While she's busy, press the pad. It opens the door," ~ V advised, voice back to normal. If it had been her in the first place. Violet held her digivice up at Pearlmon, who nodded.  
  
"Pearlmon digivolve to Flakemon!"  
  
The witch Digimon twisted round in surprise then composed herself and held out her wand. She smiled," Witch Spell!"  
  
The gold dust came shooting out of her wand at Flakemon. When it touched the snake Digimon, she began to glow and shrink.  
  
When she stopped, Violet gasped. The Digimon who was lying there was not Pearlmon, but a sparkly pink Digimon with a long tail and two bent lines on it's head that formed a type of diamond.  
  
Witchmon smiled at her amazement," Violet, meet your Digimon's in-training form. Her name is Bracemon and she attacks with Brace Spike. That's all there is to her. Now, I must get on with the experiment I kidnapped you and Mike for."  
  
She waved her wand and two things appeared in the air. They were shaped like the original digivices, octagonal with a screen in the middle, except they each had a huge point attached to the right side.  
  
With a click of her fingers, Witchmon sent the things across the room, towards the two children. Violet stared as one stuck it's point in Mike. It turned bluey-green, then disappeared.  
  
She was about to cry out when she felt a prick in her arm. Looking down, she saw the second thing with it's point in her. It turned reddy-brown then disappeared like the other.  
  
She felt a great burst of pain, but through it she heard Witchmon say, "Digi Chips. Ingenious aren't they? Enjoy digimorphing."  
  
Then the pain got so great Violet had to scream. She fell to floor next to Bracemon, unconscious. Witchmon smiled and made the door reappear. The other digidestined could have them now. Before disappearing, she released her power over Mike. He stirred, opened his eyes, then fell unconscious like Violet.  
  
The others heard the scream, then stared at the door that had reappeared. Steve ran towards it, then, as it opened, into the room. The others heard his footsteps stop and Snowmon peeked in.  
  
He motioned the others to come in, then sat next to Steve, who was kneeling next to Mike. As they all came in, they stopped too.  
  
The scene that met their eyes was Violet lying on the floor, unconscious, next to a Digimon they didn't know, but they guessed it was one of Pearlmon's forms. A couple of metres away, Mike lay on the floor, Steve kneeling next to him. Firepentmon immediately hurried to Mike and lay down next to him.  
  
Mary sat down next to Violet. The brown-haired girl had a strange look on her face, a mixture of fear and fury. Suddenly, Mary noticed the blood on Violet's right arm.  
  
She pointed it out to John, who looked at Mike and saw the same mark on his left arm. Scratching his own arm, John said, "It's as though they were attacked by something, but only Violet could see it happening."  
  
Steve stared at Mike's limp body. He carefully reached out to touch the wound and scrambled back as a burst of electricity shot out at him. What was going on?  
  
WHAT IS `DIGIMORPHING`? AND WILL MIKE AND VIOLET BE ALL RIGHT? FIND OUT ON THE NEXT DIGIMON: DIGITAL MONSTERS!  
  
Author's Note: (Glares at narrator) Of COURSE they'll be alright. I mean, come on, it's only the seventh episode! Good people crucial to the plot don't die straight after the seventh episode! Wish it applied to ALL good characters.. (Remembers Blank from FF9. Poor guy) Anyway, R+R. Reviews make me happy, and please the Moon. You want the Moon to be happy, right.?  
  
Lady Moon 


	8. Trick or Treat

Trick or Treat?  
  
Steve stared at the water in front of him, thinking. His old doubts about his place in the group were still in his head, but now he had something else to think about as well.  
  
"Why on earth were Mike and Violet chosen to be separated from the group? And what happened to them before the door reappeared? Mike doesn't seem to remember anything and Violet won't tell anyone."  
  
It was true. Mike had been walking round in a daze, as though he had only just found out his legs could move. Steve was worried about him, but he would probably be fine.  
  
Violet, meanwhile, was spending more and more time at the back of the group, frowning to herself. John had tried to look at her wound, but she kept moving away from him, as if she was afraid of him.  
  
The group had stopped by a huge lake that was surrounded by huge fruit trees. There was a sort of island in the middle of the lake, connected to the lakeside by a thin strip of land. Mary had pointed out that it looked just like the lake where the original digidestined had fought Seadramon, and she was right.  
  
Bracemon looked at Steve staring at the water, then turned back to Violet, who was typing on her computer. First, a picture of her digivice popped onto the screen, followed by a picture of the digi-chip.  
  
"What on earth is that?" said a voice behind her. She spun round and saw Mike, who was touching his wound while staring at the picture. She sighed and typed digi-chip under the picture.  
  
His eyebrows shot up, then he said, "Violet, you know what happened to me after I left the group, don't you?"  
  
"Maybe a bit. First, could you tell me what you remember?" Violet asked cautiously.  
  
He sighed, ran a hand through his hair and began, "Well, I remember seeing that woman when I woke up. She had straight brown hair, brown eyes, pink boots, a sort of streamer that was pink, and a pendant round her neck. She was wearing some kind of weird suit that was like a swimming costume with a cloak attached. She was really beautiful and when I tried to stop myself going towards her, her eyes sort of glowed, and I couldn't control myself anymore. She walked into the trees and I followed.  
  
"We had reached a clearing and her pendant started glowing black. She glowed too and when she stopped, she had become a Digimon that looked like a witch. Her pendant had become black. She had a silver wand and she pointed it at me. She yelled something that sounded like `Witch Spell` and this gold dust shot out.  
  
"It covered me and I fell to the floor. I can't explain what happened next. I felt as though I was sleepwalking, except it seemed to be so real. I was acting like a sort of pet, if you like. I remember standing by that lady, watching you guys walking towards the mountain. She had a sort of viewing screen to watch everything. Part of me wanted to run away, to leave her, but she had me under her control.  
  
"Then, one day, she raised her wand at me and commanded me to fall to floor, as if asleep. I could feel all the cells in my body shut down. Next thing I knew, I saw you lying on the floor next to me. That was only for a second. After that, I just fell unconscious. When I opened my eyes, I was here with all of you and Firepentmon was going crazy, because he was so glad to see me.  
  
"But Violet, why is there a Gatomon with us? How did you get that scar on your eye? Why were you lying next to me? What happened while I was standing around like a zombie?"  
  
Steve looked up from his thoughts at the talking couple. Firepentmon, Gatomon, Jewelmon, Snowmon, Mary and John were all sleeping. Silently, he crept towards the boy and girl, and listened.  
  
Violet, oblivious to Steve and the now sleeping Bracemon, told Mike everything that had happened since he had wandered off. Steve's eyes widened when he heard what had happened to Violet after she had entered the mountain with Pearlmon. However, they narrowed again when Mike spoke at the end of Violet's story.  
  
"Violet, I forgot to tell you. Remember those black balls? Well, she's the one who makes them!"  
  
This was too much for Steve. He needed to think about what he'd heard. But when he walked away, he trod on a twig. It snapped and Mike was up at once, "Steve? What are you spying on us for?"  
  
Steve replied," Look, I'm sorry. I just wanted to know what happened to you two. Is that a crime or something?"  
  
Mike frowned, tensing for a fight. Suddenly, there was a scream from where the others had been sleeping. They all looked at each other. Then, with Violet scooping up Bracemon in her arms, the three children ran towards the source of the commotion.  
  
The sight that greeted their eyes made them stop in their tracks. There was about ten human shaped Digimon surrounding the others. They had a blue hat with a skull on it on their heads and a blue cloak on their backs. On their feet, they wore brown boots with crescent moons on them and on their hands, they wore brown gloves. Their clothes seemed to be made of rags and each of them carried a stick with a gold sun on it. Every one of them had black eyes.  
  
Bracemon stirred, opening her eyes, then leapt out of Violet's arms when she saw the Digimon, "Wizardmon: These Digimon usually like to keep to themselves, but when attacked they can defend themselves with their Magical Game faster than you can say trick or treat."  
  
The person who was screaming had been Mary. When she saw Steve, Mike and Violet running towards the group, she calmed down. Luckily, her screaming had awakened John and all the sleeping Digimon.  
  
Gatomon looked at the nearest Wizardmon, and Violet knew she was thinking about the Wizardmon that had saved Kari and Gatomon. He had died in the blast from Myotismon's Grisly Wing.  
  
Then, the cat Digimon's eyes registered the black eyes and she leapt at him, "Lightning Claw!"  
  
"Magical Game!" The Digimon responded, shooting blue energy at Gatomon, but she swerved and he missed. The digidestined's digivices began to glow.  
  
"Snowmon digivolve to Icemon!"  
  
"Firepentmon digivolve to Serpentmon!"  
  
"Bracemon digivolve to Pearlmon! Pearlmon digivolve to Flakemon!"  
  
"Jewelmon digivolve to Diamondmon!"  
  
"Mythicmon digivolve to Phoenixomon!"  
  
The champion Digimon smiled at the Wizardmon then attacked. Icemon froze two. Serpentmon suffocated another two. Flakemon spun round and hit one. Diamondmon shot two of them. Phoenixomon burnt two more and Gatomon knocked down the remaining one.  
  
The familiar black balls flew into the air and disintegrated. However, this time a black portal appeared in the sky. Steve glanced at Mike and Violet, and saw that their eyes were full of fear. They knew who was coming.  
  
Finally, the portal began to become a Digimon. One with a witch hat, black gloves and holding a silver wand. Violet hissed, "Witchmon!"  
  
The Digimon smiled at her rage, then raised her wand, "Witch Spell!"  
  
The familiar gold dust shot out at the champion Digimon. #Flash!# Snowmon fell against Steve. #Flash!# Jewelmon thudded next to Mary. #Flash!# Mythicmon plopped onto John's shoulder.  
  
Mike looked around, "Hey, how come she didn't get our Digimon?"  
  
"Because of what you are. Remember Violet? I told you to have fun digimorphing. If you can digimorph, a champion Digimon that merely belongs to you does not matter. However, if you insist." The witch Digimon waved her hand and Pearlmon and Firepentmon dropped from the sky.  
  
She smiled again, then said, "Trick or treat?" Without waiting for an answer, she spun her wand around, "Witch Spell!" Gold dust came out of her wand and aimed at the earth. It started to crack open. It separated into two pieces and the Digimon could sense the same thing happening all over the island. It was splitting into six pieces.  
  
With a wave of her wand, Witchmon sent all the digidestined flying. Each of them was thrown to a different piece, luckily with their Digimon.  
  
The witch Digimon grinned, then teleported back to Infinity Mountain, the only piece with no digidestined on it, to watch the fun. Mike and Steve were on parts of Freezeland, the coldest part of Digiworld, Violet was in the Gear Savannah, Mary was at the Bakemon sanctuary, where it was time for the annual festival and John was at the ancient ruins.  
  
She sat back and wondered if they would ever get back to Infinity Mountain..  
  
WILL THE DIGIDESTINED GET BACK TOGETHER? AND CAN THEY DEFEAT WITCHMON? FIND OUT ON THE NEXT DIGIMON: DIGITAL MONSTERS!  
  
Author's Note: Must.. resist.. urge.. to kill.. GAH! (Attacks annoying announcer guy) DEATH! DESTRUCTION! DESPAIR! DIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIE!!!!!!!!!! (Remembers all the stuff she has to do in this note, and leaves him alone) OK, first of all, the Gear Savannah is mentioned in a Digimon game I have, and its set on File Island, so that's where Violet's destination comes from. Digimon doesn't belong to me, neither does the world, and I'm sick of writing these. Bye!  
  
Lady Moon 


	9. Boy Equals Tiger

Boy = Tiger  
  
  
  
Steve lay in the snow, unconscious. Snowmon sat beside him, ready to wake his digidestined if he needed to. Suddenly, he felt Steve stirring and looked at the boy's face.  
  
Where there had been closed lids, there were two blue eyes looking at the Digimon. Steve pulled himself to his feet and looked around.  
  
There was an almost endless expanse of snow and ice surrounding them. Of course, Snowmon didn't mind, as he was a snow Digimon, but Steve was freezing. It had never been this cold where he had lived.  
  
Looking around desperately, he thought he heard a familiar sound. It sounded like Mike's recorder. Snowmon heard it too, and pointed out," It sounds like it's coming from that direction."  
  
Steve began to sprint in the direction Snowmon had indicated, soon leaving his Digimon behind, and saw a cave built into a huge snow covered mountain. He looked inside, but there was no one there.  
  
He was about to leave when he felt something. A kind of urge, but it wasn't threatening. It felt like a sort of blanket, covering him in warmth. He felt his eyes grow heavy all of a sudden and the next thing he knew, he had slid down against the wall, asleep.  
  
Snowmon arrived at the cave about a minute after Steve. He felt his mouth drop open when he saw the boy lying there, asleep. He'd been unconscious for ages and he was asleep no less than five minutes later! What was going on?  
  
He nudged Steve, but he would not wake up. Snowmon knew he had to fetch help, but how could he leave Steve and besides, he had no way of getting anywhere as fast as he needed to. He was pondering this problem when he heard something near the back of the cave growl.  
  
The Digimon turned round and saw two hazel eyes staring at him. He almost screamed, but then he composed himself. He had to be strong, for Steve. He called out," Who are you?"  
  
The eyes smiled, with that strange twinkle eyes have. Then the owner of them said," I should have known you'd be Steve's Digimon. After all, I had to be brave for Matt. It only makes sense if his grandson is just as difficult."  
  
Snowmon knew who it was now. Stepping forwards, he whispered, "Garurumon?"  
  
Steve's thoughts were in a whirl. He was dreaming, but something kept cutting in. A voice. No, two voices. One of them Snowmon's and the other.He had heard it before, but he couldn't remember when. He heard it say something about him and his eyes widened. In his mind of course. Then he felt the dream beckoning, and he returned, his thoughts of being related to a digidestined pushed to very back of his mind.  
  
Garurumon had come into full view now. His purple claws were as sharp as ever, and he still had that look of kindness and understanding that had been born from years with Matt. The snow wolf Digimon's tail was it's old light-and-dark-blue striped self, but there was something different. The air of playfulness had gone. He was an old Digimon now, but he still had that sense of knowing what to do. In a way, he was the same, yet different. He had gone through a lot and it showed.  
  
He and Snowmon had talked, and devised a plan. Garurumon said that a Digimon must have entered his cave without him noticing, as Steve's sleep was obviously the work of one. He knew they had to find someone else to help.  
  
They agreed that Snowmon would freeze the entrance, so nothing could get in or out, then Garurumon would carry him to the nearest part of broken land, which was just another part of where they were.  
  
"Frozen Water!" Snowmon yelled, freezing the entrance shut with a solid block of ice. Garurumon smiled, then lowered his back. Snowmon jumped on, and Garurumon ran off.  
  
Mike woke up with three things: A foggy recollection of a dream, a body covered in snow and a splitting headache. He groaned and pressed a hand to his head. His thoughts were blurred, but he remembered the ground splitting and Witchmon sending them flying all over the place. He turned over and saw Firepentmon tending to a fire he had conjured up.  
  
The Digimon smiled, "Ah, you're awake. I was beginning to think you'd never wake up."  
  
Mike smiled weakly, then a burst of pain burst through his head and he gasped. Firepentmon crawled over to him and put a bowl of water in front of him," I melted some snow. You should drink it."  
  
Mike raised it to his lips, but as he drank, there was a loud howl. His Digimon frowned and crawled to the top of a small hill that he was using as a windshield. The fire snake's mouth dropped open for a moment, then he was down in front of Mike in a protective gesture.  
  
Mike was about to ask what was the matter when the source of it leapt down in front of them. It was a huge blue and white snow wolf with purple claws and three feathers sticking out of each of his shoulders, or where they would have been. Then the boy's eyes widened when Snowmon jumped off his ride.  
  
"Look, something's happened to Steve. He won't wake up, no matter what I do, but I know he's alive. You have to help me. Please?" The Digimon pleaded, in obvious distress.  
  
Mike stared at him. Noticing this, the Digimon quickly explained, while Firepentmon gave Garurumon some melted snow, which he drank. Then, when Snowmon finished, Mike asked, "OK, I'll help, but how are we going to get there?"  
  
In answer, Garurumon lowered his back and Snowmon jumped on. Understanding, Mike climbed on, with Firepentmon curled round his neck. As Garurumon set off, he tried to remember his dream, but failed.  
  
'Oh well, I'll remember later,' he thought, as Snowmon looked back at him.  
  
They arrived at the cave in about a hour, Snowmon broke through the ice and Mike rubbed his chin, "Well, I guess we go in and try not to fall asleep." So saying, he walked in.  
  
The first thing they all felt was a sudden feeling of drowsiness, then all three of the Digimon sank to the floor, asleep. Mike tried to keep his eyes open, and saw a small, blue butterfly with a red wavy line coming out of both sides of it's head, and one more coming out of the top of it's head that split into two curved ends. It's wings had fake eyes on them, green lids above the eyes, a different shade of blue than the body below the eyes, red underneath the blue and a thin bit of orange by the red. It grinned at him, with brown eyes (it grinned with its eyes because it didn't have a mouth), and then sleep claimed him.  
  
Dozemon could not believe her luck. She had come to Garurumon's cave to test out her Sleep Powder (she was newly digivolved), and it turned out to be so strong it could put three Digimon to sleep at the same time and a digidestined a couple of seconds afterwards. She started to fall asleep next to the wall herself, except she had a lot more chance of waking up.  
  
Mike was having the dream again, except it was clearer. There was a woman on a Birdramon, and he was right next to her. On closer inspection, she turned out to be one of the original digidestined, Sora. She turned to look at him and smiled.  
  
^^ "Mike, fight the spell. You have to protect your friends. Yes, I mean Steve too. I know all about protection. I have passed that on to you, my grandson. Except, your sense of protection is greater. Use it!" ^^  
  
She was fading away, as was Birdramon. Mike was left hanging in mid-air. In panic, he focused on waking up. A light appeared in front of him, and he moved towards it. It grew brighter, and brighter until...  
  
He stirred, then opened his eyes. He saw the butterfly Digimon sleeping and frowned, remembering what Firepentmon had told him once about a Digimon that looked just like it, "I might have guessed Dozemon would be behind this. Her Sleeping Powder can put practically anything to sleep, and then she can annihilate them with her Butterfly Eye attack. For a Rookie, she's almost as powerful as a Champion!"  
  
At that moment, Dozemon stirred. Her eyes cracked open, then widened as she saw him wide-awake. She flew up and yelled, "Sleep Powder!"  
  
A wave of blue, shimmering light floated out of her wings at the Mike, but the boy just moved in front of his friends, protecting them from an even deeper sleep. After all, any type of powder wears off, but it would take much longer for a double dosage to do so. As he did so, his digivice began to glow.  
  
He looked down at it as it glowed brighter, brighter than any of them had when their Digimon had digivolved. Then he felt something flowing into him through his digivice.  
  
He suddenly noticed his hand. It was glowing bright white. His eyes widened, and then he realised that all of his body was glowing. Then, for a reason he didn't know, he yelled out, "Mike digimorph to Tigermon!"  
  
The light faded, but when it cleared, Mike was gone. Where he had been standing, there was now a growling tiger, with bright green eyes, just like Mike's, and a scar on his right fore-leg, exactly where Mike had one from his encounter with Tuskmon.  
  
Dozemon fluttered around in fear, "Great. Of all the Digimon he could digimorph to, it had to be Tigermon. His Tiger Swipe can do no end of damage, plus he can leap over at least three metres in just one go!"  
  
The tiger Digimon stepped towards the butterfly Digimon. She started to yell her attack, but Tigermon was too fast. "Tiger Swipe!" he roared.  
  
He leapt at her with claws outstretched. In one swipe, he sent her flying towards the exit. She didn't wait for more. She happily flew out of the cave, towards the horizon. Tigermon smiled, then turned back when he heard a groan.  
  
Steve was stirring, and then he raised a hand to his head and opened his eyes. The first thing he saw was a tiger face not ten centimetres away from his own. He screamed and backed away, but only succeeded in banging his head on the wall. The tiger chuckled.  
  
Steve stared. He had never heard a tiger chuckle. Then his attention turned to the three Digimon who were just waking up. His gaze flicked from Snowmon, to Garurumon, then rested on Firepentmon. He asked, "Er, Firepentmon? Where's Mike?"  
  
The Digimon looked at him, "What do you mean? Isn't he here?"  
  
Steve shook his head. Just then, the Digimon noticed Tigermon. As they gaped, he winked and stepped outside and out of sight. A few seconds later, there was a blinding flash.  
  
Steve rushed outside and saw Mike leaning coolly against the mountainside, looking at his digivice. Steve glanced at it and saw that, on the screen, there was a picture of some kind of digivice with a pin in it. Mike suddenly felt Steve's gaze on him and commented, "You awake then?"  
  
"What do you mean? Weren't you asleep too? Or did you just stay out here?"  
  
Suddenly Mike had put his digivice back where it had been (on the strap on his shorts (which weren't very helpful in the cold weather)) and grabbed Steve's T-shirt.  
  
"Do you think I just stood here and watched? Who do you think that tiger was?"  
  
Steve just stared at Mike. Then, acting on instinct, pushed the boy off and jumped at him. Mike was ready, swerving to the left and then punching Steve as the boy landed in the snow. After a few minutes of kicking, punching and so on, Steve found himself face-to-face with Mike again, except this time it was different. The only thing he noticed was that Mike was fighting differently, as though he had experienced fights in some other body. He was moving with some kind of grace that was only equal to some kind of cat. A tiger, perhaps...  
  
Just then, Steve noticed the edge of some kind of picture poking out from underneath Mike's T-shirt. He pointed at it, "What's that?"  
  
Mike looked down at it, then pulled back his shirt so he could see more. There, on his shoulder, was a tiger's face, with bright green eyes, and identical to the face of the Tigermon that Steve had seen. Then Garurumon walked out of his cave and saw them.  
  
He strolled over to them and peeked at the picture. Then he muttered, "Of course. Digimorphing." The two boys looked at him, and then Mike clicked his fingers.  
  
"Witchmon said something about digimorphing. Plus, Violet had a picture of something she called a `digi-chip` on her laptop, and the same picture appeared on my digivice's screen. And, just now, I somehow changed into that tiger-thing."  
  
Steve stared at his friend. Then he looked up at the horizon and saw something. He tapped Mike, "I think we're getting closer to Infinity Mountain."  
  
Mike looked up and nodded. They both picked up their Digimon and walked towards the shore, so they could jump onto Witchmon's bit of land when they joined up.  
  
As they walked, Mike thought, "I wonder what Violet will digimorph into."  
  
WHAT IS THE SECRET OF DIGIMORPHING? AND ARE ALL OF THE DIGIDESTINED RELATED TO PREVIOUS ONES? FIND OUT ON THE NEXT DIGIMON: DIGITAL MONSTERS!  
  
Author's Note: (Sighs) Mike and Steve are getting distracted from their fights quite easily, aren't they? Oh well, I need more practice at this whole rivalry thing. Anyways, yes, this was partly based on Subzero Ice Punch. I liked the idea, so I just changed it. Firepentmon mentioned Dozemon for a reason I have not yet thought of, Garurumon was there for the same reason, and he knew about digimorphing because... You'll sort of find out next episode. ^_^. Anyway, to sign off, Butterfingers, I have nothing against Frontier. I started this about the time I found out about Tamers. I thought they shouldn't let go of all the stuff they'd done in Seasons 1 and 2, so I threw something together with their grandkids! Hey, if anyone wants to know how I came up with the idea and everything, just tell me and I'll slip something in. Oh, and I'd already dubbed this `Season 4` when I heard about it, although now I think about it, they're kinda similar, aren't they? I mean, they turn into Digimon too. YAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGHHHHH!!!!! They're stealing my ideas!!!!!! I'm gonna sue them!!!! (Suddenly remembers 1) she doesn't have a lawyer and 2) she never copyrighted digimorphing) Oh well. See ya!  
  
Lady Moon 


	10. Moonlit Prophecy

Moonlit Prophecy  
  
Violet lay on her back, looking at the night sky. Pearlmon lay next to her, in front of the wood. Violet sighed, enjoying the radiance of the stars. Then she realised something.  
  
"Pearlmon, it was about to be a full moon when we were by the river, remember? The night Mike walked off and all this Digi-Chip business started?"  
  
Pearlmon nodded, "Yeah, why? I thought you didn't like to talk about that night. That was when you got that scar across your eye."  
  
"Don't remind me. Anyway, isn't it strange that there has been no moon ever since that night?"  
  
Pearlmon rolled onto her feet, "You know what? You're right. But then, evil has always been afraid of the moon. This may be a way of Witchmon discouraging us, as there is nothing to scare her now.  
  
"It has been said that the protector of the moon has the ability to wash away a virus from a body. If that's true, I bet she could return Witchmon to her true self."  
  
Pearlmon mentally slapped herself when Violet rolled over to stare at the Digimon. None of the digidestined had been told that Kari was Witchmon, and now Pearlmon had given it away. However, judging by Violet's face, V had just told her what Pearlmon meant.  
  
She had. These are the exact words she said, ~" She means that Witchmon used to be someone else. Kari, actually." ~  
  
Violet started to rub her forehead with one hand. She always did this whenever she was thinking or was hearing too much. She looked at the sky one more time, then lay down and shut her eyes. Pearlmon followed her example and soon they were both fast asleep.  
  
Violet was woken by the sun shining on her face. She creaked her eyes open slowly, and then she stood up and stretched. Looking around, her gaze fixed on a familiar lion thing prowling around. She quickly shook Pearlmon and pointed the lion out.  
  
Pearlmon sighed, "I thought we might see him again. That's Roarermon, a fiery lion Digimon who attacks with his Flaming Mane. However, I bet you already figured that out, since he used it to attack us before!"  
  
Roarermon suddenly looked up at them and growled. Violet immediately tensed, ready for a battle. She held her digivice up at Pearlmon, who glowed.  
  
"Pearlmon digivolve to Flakemon!"  
  
The purple snake swooped towards the lion, which yelled, "Flaming Mane!"  
  
Flakemon curled herself up and plowed easily through the flames. Then she became consumed with fire and yelled, "Flame Wheel!"  
  
As the spinning snake hit the Roarermon, the familiar black ball came out. The Digimon fell to the ground and Violet walked over to him.  
  
He woke up about five minutes later. The first thing he saw was Violet sitting next to him, holding Pearlmon. His eyes widened when he saw her, but for some reason, he whispered, "Moon Dragon!"  
  
She stared at him. He shook himself, then stood up. He looked at her, then lowered his back, "I think there's something you should see."  
  
She climbed on, and he ran to the east. The ride seemed to take about two minutes, but really, it was about twenty minutes. Whatever the time, he eventually stopped outside a cave with an entrance like a gaping mouth.  
  
Violet slid off Roarermon's back and peered inside. There was some kind of writing on the walls, but she couldn't make it out. She walked inside, with Pearlmon lighting the way.  
  
There were three walls, each with a different inscription on it, in digispeak, of course. Pearlmon went to the left wall, Roarermon to the right and Violet started to run her hand over the centre wall, and translating so fast it was as though it was written in English.  
  
Pearlmon's writing went like this: `The digidestined may have defeated evil as champions, but in order to protect the digital world, ultimates are needed. They must travel to find their crests, which have been scattered. These crests are as old as the others are, and each represents a trait that is vital to keeping a team together.  
  
The decision-maker, Leadership, which will face the hardest times. The guard, Protection, which will have to help Leadership through it's troubles. The encourager, Inspiration, which will be used to command moon and sun. The thinker, Sensibility, which will be able to calm the jewelled ones. The elder, Knowledge, which will be used to contact the previous holder, and the fighter for justice, Peace, which will only be found on it's Digimon's place of birth. `  
  
Pearlmon shook herself and stared. Knowledge was to be used again? And where had the crests been scattered? She looked over at the two other figures.  
  
Roarermon's prophecy was just as puzzling. As well as some strange riddles about the `powers of the crests`, it also seemed to focus on what was going to happen in a battle between `Leadership` and `Protection`, whoever they were.  
  
`Leadership shall have to confront darkness everywhere along the road. His grandfather, Friendship, may have met the same darkness, but Leadership will feel it inside him, controlling his every movement. In this dark hour, the candle of Inspiration will light the battle of Leadership and Protection. This is just one more test for the moon guardian, except the moon will not be enough.  
  
When the holder of Inspiration realises the true evil, the sun will wash the darkness away. However, this event will separate the digidestined, who will learn the true powers of their crests. When the power is revealed, the Digimon will reveal their most powerful selves. `  
  
Trying to catch flies would be the polite way to describe Roarermon's expression. Then he turned to look at Violet, who was reading what looked like the fate of Witchmon: ` Only Relations of Light can drive out the darkness in Light. As Peace, Light's grandchild, does not know of her ancestry yet, Inspiration must do it for her. The Digi-Chip will be used against it's creator, when the moon dragon reveals it's form. The darkness will try to use weak spells to stop the magic, but the previous digidestined will summon the full moon.  
  
When the full moon shows the moon dragon, evil will try to fight it. However, the moon dragon will wash the virus away from Light, with the help of Leadership, Protection, Sensibility and Knowledge. `  
  
Violet sat down, extremely suddenly, on the hard stone floor of the cave. Under the prophecy was a picture of a beautiful dragon, with a picture of a full moon on its forehead, belly and both wings. There was also a crescent moon on each of it's arms and legs. Violet had seen the same dragon in a dream she'd been having a lot lately.  
  
Rubbing her head, the girl walked out of the cave and saw Infinity Mountain coming towards her island. She went to tell the Digimon, and then they all walked towards the mountain. Little did Violet know that she was walking towards her destiny.  
  
WHAT DO THE PROPHECIES MEAN? AND WHY DID VIOLET SEE THE MOON DRAGON IN HER DREAM? FIND OUT IN THE NEXT DIGIMON: DIGITAL MONSTERS!  
  
Author's Note: NUMBER TEN!!!!!!!! WOOOOOOOOOOO!!!! GO ME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! #Is threatened with a tranquilliser # OK, I'll calm down... A bit. Anyway, seeing as this WAS the big one-o, it's a what I call a `preview episode`. That's where it tells you about what's coming up `Later In The Show`. And as for what everything means...... You'll see. ^_^.  
  
Lady Moon 


	11. Reliability and Knowledge

Reliability and Knowledge  
  
  
  
Mary opened her eyes to a scene of tombstones. She sat up, and felt Jewelmon fly onto her shoulder, perching there like a parrot.  
  
The girl was lying against a particularly moss-covered tombstone. She turned over to examine it, brushing away the moss, and read the writing that was engraved into it:  
  
Here lie the remains of the crest of Reliability. It is over this tombstone that the Reliability constellation hangs, and one star fell onto this place, so it was buried.  
  
Mary scratched her head, "`Reliability Constellation`? What's that?"  
  
  
  
A voice behind her said, "When the crests were destroyed, each of them split in half. One half soared into the air to make a certain constellation, which is shaped like the crest that made it. The other halves scattered all over the Digiworld. They each found a place where they could resume their form."  
  
Mary spun round and saw a huge furry white sort of walrus, with a large horn sticking out of its head. She immediately recognised him as Ikkakumon, Joe's Digimon. Her mouth dropped open. The Digimon smiled at her.  
  
While Ikkakumon and Mary stared at each other, Jewelmon flew above the graveyard, to see where they were. She could see something that looked like a church, and she relayed that information to the pair on the ground.  
  
Mary immediately began to walk towards it, but Ikkakumon said, "Careful! That's the Bakemon cemetery. It's time for the annual festival, and they were looking for things to tie to the altar!"  
  
Mary stopped as soon as she heard that. Then she heard some kind of weird music. She glanced up at Jewelmon, who flew ahead to see. She was soon back.  
  
"I saw some Bakemon who were floating around in some kind of weird dance. I couldn't see where the music was coming from."  
  
Mary was just pondering what to do, when both Jewelmon and Ikkakumon spun round to face a forest. The girl was about to ask what the matter was, when she felt something grab her from behind her, then pull her away. She tried to scream, but the thing was covering her mouth. She felt it lift her into the air, and off the island.  
  
****************************************************************************  
  
John was typing on his computer. Mythicmon flew back from his tour of the ruins and murmured, "What a surprise."  
  
The Digimon flew down onto John's shoulder. The boy hardly noticed. He tried poking the digidestined, but the boy just started to absentmindedly stroke the Digimon's feathers.  
  
Mythicmon wasn't used to John acting like this. He glanced at the boy's face and noticed that he wasn't even focusing on the computer. His face had a glazed look, as though he was remembering something and didn't seem to realise he was typing at all.  
  
Suddenly, he blinked and stared at the computer screen in front of him. Mythicmon looked at the screen, which showed on the screen: gywsfffioi 089 tt trtr uyrr utf vffc cdpppp gfg h 5tgf hytrgf5rtgf5yh'''@r5tgftr4@ @@6yttr5gf67yyu76htrftt@@ '''' ffyretvr..;,???///  
  
John hurriedly deleted all the letters, numbers and punctuation and shut down the computer. He got to his feet, and Mythicmon asked, "What were you thinking about? And don't say `nothing`, because it was obvious you were thinking about SOMETHING."  
  
John swallowed. He'd been thinking about all sorts of stuff. The day he'd got the computer, the expression on his father's face when he'd given John the computer as a present, the way John always buried himself n the computer when he didn't want to have anything to do with the outside world...  
  
"John, will you please remain on this planet for at least five minutes!" Mythicmon yelled at his digidestined. He didn't like the way John kept zoning out.  
  
John shook himself, then he heard something. A scream. A female scream. A female scream that had woken everyone up on the night the Wizardmon had attacked...  
  
He glanced at Mythicmon, and simultaneously they whispered, "Mary..."  
  
****************************************************************************  
  
Mary's captor deposited her on a hard, cold, stone floor. She rubbed her head and looked at the Digimon. It looked like a cross between a human and a bird. It was pitch-black, with a beak like parrot's (the top part long with a curve at the end, and a smaller part under it, which curved upwards to meet the top bit). It had human legs, which wore a pair of torn, dusty and old grey trousers (the grey looked like it had been black, but had faded). Its arms were like a human's, but several black feathers grew out of them just above the elbow. The hands had long claws for nails, which seemed to be capable of slicing you open. Its chest had a torn T-shirt covering it, which was the same grey as the trousers. Its eyes were as black as its skin (darker, it seemed, actually) and it had a burn on its cheek. A pair of huge, broad, black wings erupted out of its back.  
  
Mary stared at it. It glared at her, then declared, in a harsh, male voice, "I am Nightdamon. I am ruler of the night skies, and if any Digimon dares to defy me, my Night Bird attack will deal with them." It smiled evilly as Mary screamed.  
  
****************************************************************************  
  
John and Mythicmon hurried to the source of Mary's scream. Mythicmon flew ahead, telling John which way to go. The boy himself was worried about what was making Mary scream. Mythicmon suddenly stopped and flew down to John's shoulder. He whispered in the boy's ear, "Mary's been captured by Nightdamon. Jewelmon isn't with her."  
  
At the words `Jewelmon isn't with her`, John uttered a tiny gasp. As far as he could tell, a digidestined without their Digimon was a perfect target for any Digimon. And if that Digimon wanted them dead...  
  
He stopped when he came to an opening. The screams seemed to be coming from the room, so he guessed Mary and Nightdamon were in there. He glanced at Mythicmon, who flew into the room. Nightdamon looked up, but John stepped into the room, digivice pointing towards his Digimon.  
  
"Mythicmon digivolve to Phoenixomon!"  
  
John hurried over to Mary, as the fiery red bird swooped towards the black one. Mary was sitting with her back pressed against a wall. She looked petrified. Her eyes were staring at the black bird/human and her expression was full of fear.  
  
John shook her shoulder, "Mary, we have to get out of here. I have a feeling Nightdamon is more powerful than an average champion Digimon, so we need to get out of here. NOW!"  
  
Mary jerked. She wasn't used to John acting as though he was in charge. However, she was no good at making decisions, and all sorts of other things a leader has to do, so she just did as John said.  
  
They ran as fast as they could, out of the opening and down the stony corridor. Nightdamon saw them, and he was furious. He turned towards Phoenixomon and tensed. His entire body became surrounded with some kind of black energy. He stretched out one hand, fingers outstretched. The energy began to flow down his arm, and all the way off his fingers. As soon as it reached the air, it began to form itself into a black bird. As soon as all the energy was formed into this bird, Nightdamon cried out, "Night Bird!"  
  
The bird swooped towards Phoenixomon, and knocked the Digimon out of the air. The black bird circled around Phoenixomon, who began to glow and shrink.  
  
When the light faded, a strange bird lay there. It was smaller than Mythicmon, and was definitely cuter. It was entirely red, except for a white breast, a gold beak, gold talons and a gold circle on its breast. Its eyes were gold too. It had a tiny tail, like Mythicmon's, that curled under it. At the end of it, the tail split into a kind of pincer.  
  
The black bird swooped towards Nightdamon, who seemed to suck something out of it. The black bird disappeared. Whilst he was doing this, the small bird fluttered silently out of the room.  
  
John was tugging Mary along the passage as fast as he could. Mary wasn't used to John acting like this. The boy usually just went along with the group. He was at least a year younger than everyone else was, but now, he seemed to be a completely different person. He had some kind of heat radiating from him, and Mary decided to ask him about it later.  
  
She heard a weak bird cry behind her, and glanced over her shoulder. A tiny red and gold bird was fluttering towards them, but it didn't seem to have much strength left. It went past her, then plopped onto John's shoulder, who stopped immediately.  
  
He stared at the bundle of feathers. Then he remembered why he was running, and started sprinting again, but with one hand holding the bird onto his shoulder. When they had been running for about five minutes, he stopped and leant against a wall.  
  
The bird seemed to have recovered slightly. It started saying something in a weak, shaky male voice, and the two children leant close to listen, "Sorry about that. I tried to stop Nightdamon, but he sucked all of my energy out. This is my in-training form, Fledglingmon. I can defend myself with my Bird Circle, but it isn't strong enough to win a lot of battles."  
  
John stared at what he now knew to be his Digimon, and then he slid down the wall and onto the floor. He hugged his knees and seemed to be thinking deeply.  
  
He starting muttering to himself and Mary raised an eyebrow. She glanced to her left, and then she almost jumped all the way to the moon (if it was there). There was a Digimon standing there, but he was one of the scariest she'd seen (in her opinion).  
  
It had a horse's body, but one with two purple ovals on the fronts of each of the front legs. There were other purple ovals in assorted places over his legs. However, where there should be a horse's neck and head, there was something that resembled a man's body. It only resembled a man's body because pieces of the purple stuff were placed all over it in the form of armour. It had two arms that had an oval on the bit attached to the shoulder. Its left hand was grey with part of a pair of handcuffs hanging off it. The right hand had at least three ovals on it, and had a type of tube running along it. Its shoulders had large shoulder-pads covering them, but the thing that caught Mary's eye was its head. It had a grey helmet with a large piece of grey metal attached to the back of it. There was a T- shaped hole on it, and a single red eye looked out of the hole.  
  
The Digimon trotted over to where John was still muttering to himself, and tapped his shoulder. He shrugged its hand off and murmured, "Mary, I'm trying to think."  
  
Mary had to try extremely hard to stifle a giggle. The Digimon looked confused, then tapped John's shoulder again and said, "Do I sound like Mary?"  
  
John looked up sharply, then his mouth dropped open. The Digimon laughed, "You probably recognise me, but I'll introduce myself just in case. My name is Centarumon and I can attack with my Solar Ray. I've been looking for you two. I have something to show you. Follow me."  
  
It was just a symbol of how weird their lives had become. They exchanged glances, and then John picked Fledglingmon up from where he had been lying and stood up. Centarumon turned round and the two digidestined followed him.  
  
****************************************************************************  
  
Witchmon watched the scene and shook with silent rage. That Centarumon always helped the digidestined out of fixes. She waved a hand, and the picture changed into one of a black bird wearing a torn T-shirt and a pair of torn jeans. She ordered, "Nightdamon, follow them until they go into a room, where you can corner them. Don't destroy them, though. Capture them and bring them here."  
  
The bird couldn't resist her. He turned round and flew towards the digidestined. Witchmon smiled and leant back in her chair to watch.  
  
***************************************************************************  
  
Mary missed Jewelmon. She felt so lonely without her Digimon. She glanced at Fledglingmon and John and couldn't stop a burst of jealousy going through her.  
  
John was thinking about the way he'd acted. He wondered why he'd grabbed Mary and dragged her along like that. Normally he just kept to himself. It was as if something else had pushed his conscience or whatever controlled him away and taken control of him.  
  
Centarumon stopped by a passageway and beckoned them to follow him into it. They followed, and a black bird, hidden in the shadows, crept after them, black eyes blazing.  
  
****************************************************************************  
  
Mary couldn't stop the gasp that escaped her when they entered the room the passage led to. It was covered in writing that was written in digispeak, so she couldn't understand what it said. The floor had engravings of all the crests on it, including some she'd never seen before.  
  
Centarumon trotted towards one of the crests she didn't recognise. It looked like a circle with four curved lines coming out of it in different places (one on the left, one on the right, one on top and one on the bottom) and a smaller circle drawn inside it, with a line splitting the smaller one in half. Centarumon said, "This is one of your group's crests. It is called the crest of Leadership. All the others that are new," he gestured to each of the unfamiliar crests, "are your group's as well. Also, Knowledge belongs to one of you as well."  
  
Mary stared. Then she asked, "Do you know which crest belongs to which person?"  
  
In answer, Centarumon held one hand towards her and said, "Could you let me see your digivice?"  
  
She handed it to him, and he turned it so they could all see the back. Then he pointed to a space just above the thing that they used to slide the digivice onto their clothes. In the space, there were two pictures. One looked like a silver cross (like the one Christ was hung on) with four right-angled triangles around it. The other was flesh-coloured and looked like two wide curved lines that curved into each other and became one thin line. On either side of the single line, there were two small circles.  
  
The Digimon pointed at the pictures, "All of your digivices have different crests drawn on the backs. The crest on the right is the crest of the digidestined you're related to. The crest on the left is your own."  
  
John turned over his own digivice. The pictures on the back were the same. He stared at them. The one on the right was Knowledge, so he assumed he was related to Izzy. The one on the left was Knowledge too. He looked at Centarumon, "What are the names of the other crests?"  
  
Centarumon trotted over to a picture of a shield with a cross on it and a sword behind it. The Digimon pointed at it, "Protection." Then he walked over to a drawing of a lighted candle surrounded by a starburst, "That one's Inspiration." The next was the same as the flesh-pink one on Mary's digivice, "It's called Sensibility." Last of all was just two feathers forming a cross, "And that one is Peace."  
  
They both stared at the pictures, and then Mary heard something behind her and turned round. A shadow detached itself from the wall and reached towards her. It was Nightdamon. She screamed.  
  
John and Centarumon spun round. John frowned as he recognised the Digimon. Fledglingmon whispered, "John, I'm still too weak to digivolve."  
  
Nightdamon was about to grab Mary, when a familiar voice shouted, "Jewel Strike!"  
  
A speeding purple jewel shot into the room and ploughed straight into Nightdamon's back. He spun round as Jewelmon flew into the room and collapsed into Mary's outstretched arms. Mary hugged her Digimon as tightly as possible.  
  
Ikkakumon appeared in the doorway, growling at Nightdamon. The Digimon spun round. Mary held up her digivice at Jewelmon, who nodded.  
  
"Jewelmon digivolve to Diamondmon!"  
  
The black bird Digimon soared into the air, but the three champion Digimon were too fast.  
  
"Diamond Strike!"  
  
"Harpoon Torpedo!"  
  
"Solar Ray!"  
  
The attacks shot towards Nightdamon, and a black ball erupted out of his back. Mary stepped back nervously as he plummeted down. Diamondmon became Jewelmon again.  
  
Nightdamon woke up a few minutes later. The first thing he did was apologise. Then he offered to carry the two digidestined to Infinity Mountain. They accepted.  
  
As they waved goodbye to Centarumon and Ikkakumon, they both thought, 'We must have a look at everyone else's digivices.'  
  
WHAT ARE THE CRESTS OF THE NEW DIGIDESTINED? AND WILL WITCHMON BE DEFEATED? FIND OUT ON THE NEXT DIGIMON: DIGITAL MONSTERS!  
  
Author's Note: Ok, so maybe I went mad whilst I was writing this. In case anyone's wondering, I was banging my head on the keyboard when I was writing what John was typing. I also cannot BELIEVE how long this took to write. I hope that the others won't take so long to write. UPDATE: Nope, sorry to say some of the others are taking even longer. Ah well, I've still got a lot to upload, so... who knows what might be finished when you guys get all the updates? 


	12. Moon Dragon

Moon Dragon  
  
  
  
Witchmon paced back and forth over the shiny floor of her viewing room. She couldn't believe how far the digidestined had come. They were more resourceful than she'd anticipated.  
  
However, as long as there was no moon, there was no way they could defeat her. She turned to the picture of the two boys, Steve and Mike. They had just reached a lake near Infinity Mountain, and were stopping for a rest.  
  
The picture shimmered and changed into a projection of John and Mary riding Nightdamon. That Digimon had failed Witchmon miserably, and she didn't try to mask her anger.  
  
Last of all, it became a picture of Violet, riding Roarermon along the beach. This digidestined was the one Witchmon was most interested in. The girl was dangerous. If she ever digimorphed, Witchmon was positive she would destroy her.  
  
The Digimon turned away from the hologram as a Wizardmon dragged her Gatomon into the room. Witchmon gestured for the Wizardmon to leave then smiled at the trembling Gatomon. The evil Digimon put her hands together in a circle. A ball of black fire formed in the space between her hands.  
  
The Digimon drew her hands away, leaving the black ball hovering in the air, and then she pushed it towards the trembling Gatomon. As soon as it hit the Digimon, she fell to floor. After a few seconds, she got up again. Witchmon looked at the Gatomon, and smiled.  
  
"Gatomon, will you help me destroy the digidestined?"  
  
The Digimon looked at Witchmon with blazing black eyes, "Yes, mistress. I will."  
  
**************************************************************************  
  
Nightdamon saw the boys before Steve and Mike saw him, "Look, you two. They're part of your group, aren't they?"  
  
John looked and nodded. Nightdamon swooped towards the two boys. They looked up about a minute before Nightdamon landed, and they both jumped up in surprise. Then they noticed John and Mary on the Digimon's back (Mary had both hands firmly over her eyes) and relaxed.  
  
A few minutes later, they were all together. Garurumon had come along with Steve and Mike, and they hurriedly explained where they'd met him.  
  
John and Mary explained why Nightdamon was with them, then Mary asked, "Have you seen Violet anywhere?"  
  
Both boys shook their heads. Suddenly they heard a familiar voice shouting, "Hey, guys! I'm over here!"  
  
They all turned round and stared as Violet rode up to them on Roarermon's back. Pearlmon got off first and then Violet did as well, thanking Roarermon for the ride.  
  
Later, they were all sitting in a circle, telling each other what had happened on their various parts of land. Steve and Mike went first. When Mike told them about becoming Tigermon, Violet (who had been squatting) fell backwards onto her bottom. Mary looked at her, and Steve finished the rest of the story.  
  
John and Mary went next. When they got to the bit about the crests on their digivices, Mary showed hers to show them. Everyone immediately had a look at his or hers. Steve had gold Leadership and blue Friendship, Mike had bluey-green Protection and red Love, and Violet had reddy-brown Inspiration and orange Courage.  
  
When they had finished, Violet began hers, starting with the realisation that there was no moon. As soon as she mentioned Witchmon's true identity, everyone sat up in surprise. Then she went on to fighting Roarermon and then the prophecies.  
  
Pearlmon said hers first, then Roarermon, and then Violet. Then, reddening slightly, she mentioned the fact that she'd seen a picture of some kind of dragon in her dream. Steve looked as if he was about to laugh at that, but he stopped it just in time.  
  
When Violet had finished, Mary said, "Well, what can we gather from all this, then?"  
  
Violet raised her hand, as if she was in class, "Mike is very special 'cos he changed into a tiger Digimon thing?"  
  
"My, aren't you clever." Steve muttered. Suddenly, his tummy gave a rumble and he chuckled, embarrassed. "Well, I think we'd best find some food and somewhere to sleep, right? We'll worry about Witchmon later."  
  
They all laughed. It lightened the atmosphere, but Mary kept glancing at Infinity Mountain. She knew that she wouldn't forget about Witchmon in a hurry.  
  
**************************************************************************  
  
After a meal, everyone was ready to go to bed. Everyone, that is, except Violet. V kept trying to talk to her, but Violet couldn't hear her properly. As soon as everyone had gone to sleep, she knelt by the lake to talk.  
  
~ "Violet, I know you've worked it out, but there's one thing you don't know, and need to." ~  
  
"What else do I need to know? Apparently, I'm the one that has to kill Witchmon, but I don't think I can just use some Karate chops and that's it, she's back to Kari. Besides, I can't exactly ring the original digidestined and say `could you please make a moon appear? `"  
  
~ "Violet, have you ever heard of destiny?" ~  
  
"Yeah, but if you ask me, it makes people sound like clockwork toys, wound up and let go."  
  
~ "Whatever you think of it, that is what moves the world. You'll have to just hope that destiny is in your favour." ~  
  
"That is so poetic."  
  
~ "Thank you." ~  
  
Suddenly, there was a yelp of surprise from the sleeping children. Violet spun round and saw Steve sitting up straight. Next to him was a cringing Gatomon, with her eyes closed.  
  
"Gatomon? Why are your eyes closed?" Mike asked, sitting up.  
  
"I got captured by Witchmon, but I managed to escape. However, she changed my eye colour to black, so I had to tell you before you saw my eyes. If you'd seen before I told you, you may have thought I was one of her slaves." The Digimon explained.  
  
Firepentmon said, "Well, you can open them now."  
  
She did. Her eyes were pitch black. They all jerked when they saw them. However, no one attacked, and she smiled sheepishly.  
  
Suddenly, Violet had a thought. She wasn't sure if it was hers or V's, but whoever's it was, they both heard it, 'Wouldn't one of Witchmon's slaves say the same thing, for cover?'  
  
The girl got to her feet. They all looked at her, and she explained, "If we're fighting Witchmon soon, then we have to be ready. I'm just going to practise some martial art moves."  
  
They nodded, soothed, and Violet took a few steps away from them. She was still for a few seconds, then she launched into a flurry of Karate, Judo and kickboxing moves. The group stared at her. They'd never seen anyone do moves that fast before. Then they all jumped to their feet as a particularly strong seismic kick caught Gatomon in the back.  
  
"Violet, are you insane?" Steve yelled. Violet stopped. She'd never heard Steve sound that angry before. Then, to the rest of the digidestined's surprise, she grinned and gestured towards Gatomon.  
  
A black ball had just burst out of her back. It flew into the air and disappeared. The group looked at Violet, who winked. She'd guessed that that would happen.  
  
"You know, Witchmon isn't going to be happy about that. I think we should try attacking her now. It does mean we won't have to deal with any more of her slaves," Violet suggested.  
  
"Jeez, you like rushing into things, don't you?" Mike commented. Violet gave him her see-into-your-soul-look and he immediately shut up.  
  
**************************************************************************  
  
About an hour, maybe two, later, the group had reached the door that Violet had knocked on when Mike had disappeared. John sighed, then asked, "Well, now what do we do?"  
  
Everyone glared at him. They all knew that no one had planned this far ahead. Steve was about to remind John of this, when a voice behind them said, "Well, digidestined, are you ready for the final showdown?"  
  
They spun round. There, hovering in mid-air, was their favourite Digimon, Witchmon, grinning like a Cheshire Cat.  
  
**************************************************************************  
  
Koushiro `Izzy` Izumi collapsed in a chair and switched on his computer. His English wife, Isabel, leant into the room and said, "Please, Izzy, just check for e-mails this time? Don't start visiting every Digimon fansite to see what they say about you."  
  
Izzy nodded, and she left. When his computer had connected to the Internet, he clicked on the e-mail icon, then on `Send and Receive`.  
  
There was only one, from someone called Gennai.bald@digi.com. Izzy stared at the address. He hadn't heard from Gennai for ages. He quickly opened the e-mail. It said:  
  
`Izzy,  
  
There's trouble in the Digiworld. You have to call Tai, Matt, Sora and Joe and tell them to go to your house with their digivices. Send me an e-mail as soon as you've done this. And don't try going, because five new digidestined are in charge now.  
  
Your old friend,  
  
Gennai`  
  
Izzy rubbed his eyes, then looked back. The words were still there. He sighed, logged off and reached for the phone.  
  
**************************************************************************  
  
The whole group of new digidestined tensed, ready to fight. Witchmon laughed and said, "Well, what are you waiting for?" Each child held up their digivice at their Digimon. The evil Digimon raised an eyebrow, "Also, I wouldn't say no to seeing Mike digimorph."  
  
The group glanced at Mike, who reddened slightly, but stayed in the same position. He nodded, "OK, then. I will." The digivices started to glow.  
  
"Snowmon digivolve to Icemon!"  
  
"Firepentmon digivolve to Serpentmon!"  
  
"Pearlmon digivolve to Flakemon!"  
  
"Jewelmon digivolve to Diamondmon!"  
  
"Fledglingmon digivolve to Mythicmon! Mythicmon digivolve to Phoenixomon!"  
  
"Mike digimorph to Tigermon!"  
  
The six Digimon, plus Roarermon and Nightdamon leapt at Witchmon, who smiled. She raised her wand, "Witch Spell!"  
  
**************************************************************************  
  
"Let me get this straight, Izzy. You got an e-mail from Gennai, which told that the Digiworld is in trouble, but only to phone four of us?"  
  
"That's exactly what I mean, Tai," Izzy replied. The five digidestined were all huddled around Izzy's computer, waiting for a response to his message.  
  
Two minutes later, Izzy clicked on the Send and Receive icon again. The computer said, "You have one new piece of mail."  
  
Izzy opened the message. It read:  
  
`Izzy,  
  
Open the file attached to this e-mail. It contains a special camera, which will show you what is happening in the Digiworld. However, before you open it, you should know a few things.  
  
First, there are actually five digidestined, but you will only see four. You'll understand why soon.  
  
Second, I would advise you to remember what happened a long time ago (I'm talking about when you were about 20), to a certain relation of Tai's.  
  
Last of all, you would be recommended to remember your grandchildren. In particular, Tai, remember your granddaughter, Matt, remember your grandson, Sora, remember your grandson, Izzy, remember your grandson and Joe, remember your granddaughter. You'll understand soon.  
  
Your friend,  
  
Gennai  
  
"Well, at least he hasn't stopped being confusing," Sora pointed out. Izzy leant back in his chair, trying to figure it out.  
  
"`A relation of Tai's`? Is he talking about Kari?" He wondered. Matt raised an eyebrow.  
  
"Why on earth would we need to remember her turning into Witchmon? Unless." The man paused.  
  
"Do you think he means Witchmon is the one the digidestined are fighting? I wouldn't think they're doing well," Joe said, taking the pessimistic point of view.  
  
Izzy frowned, "Why do we need to remember our grandchildren?"  
  
"Well, I've only got one granddaughter. Do you think Gennai's referring to her?" Tai asked.  
  
"It's possible. What's her name? And while we're at it, what are the names' of all your grandchildren?" Izzy questioned.  
  
"Her name's Violet," Tai informed them.  
  
"I've got a grandson called Steve and a granddaughter called Hannah," Matt said.  
  
"I've got two grandsons, Nick and Mike. Wonder which one he's talking about?" Sora wondered.  
  
"I've just got the one. He's called John," Izzy announced.  
  
"And I have two granddaughters, Mary and Fiona," Joe finished.  
  
"Well, now we've done everything he told us to do, I'll load the camera," Izzy declared. He reached for the mouse and double clicked on the file labelled `Digiworld camera`.  
  
Instantly, everything on the screen began to swirl together. Izzy jumped to his feet in surprise, and the chair fell backwards onto Tai's foot. Tai promptly bit his lip to stop himself from uttering some very `colourful` language.  
  
Then the display started to swirl back together, but the picture on the screen was completely different. There were trees and bushes and in the distance was a large mountain. Izzy seized the mouse and moved it forward. The camera started to zoom in on the mountain.  
  
As it got closer, they began to see some kind of battle taking place on it. When it was only five metres away, they could see what was going on.  
  
There were eight Digimon, all frozen in attacking positions. In front of them was a Digimon, Witchmon. And standing about a metre behind them was...  
  
"Steve!"  
  
"Violet!"  
  
" Mary!"  
  
"John!"  
  
"Wait a second, didn't Gennai mention five digidestined?" Sora pointed out.  
  
Tai replied, "Well, maybe one of your grandson's is on an errand?"  
  
Sora raised a hand as if to slap him and he backed into Matt. Izzy glanced at the two of them, then turned back to trying to hook up the sound. Suddenly, a voice loud enough to wake the dead filled the room, "WITCH SPELL!!"  
  
"Izzy, turn it down, or else your wife's going to hear!" Joe screamed.  
  
His friend hastily turned the knob of his volume control. Then he looked back at the screen. Witchmon had just shot tiny pieces of gold dust at a crouching Tigermon. They lifted it into the air, then hurled it at the digidestined. Before it reached them, it started to glow and shrink and soon a boy collided with Steve and sent the two boys sprawling.  
  
Sora leant forward, "Mike!"  
  
***************************************************************************  
  
The younger group, however, was unaware of the watching adults. They watched as Witchmon changed all their Digimon back into Rookies. Violet knelt by the unconscious Pearlmon and gently shook her shoulder. When the Digimon didn't respond, Violet gathered her up into her arms and lifted her off the ground.  
  
Witchmon smiled at the girl, and raised her wand once more, "Witch Spell!"  
  
The gold dust floated out of the tip of the Digimon's weapon and shot towards Violet. She took one step backwards, but she couldn't escape them. They hit her and she fell heavily backwards, into the door that was set into the mountain.  
  
Roarermon suddenly started muttering. Mary glanced at him, and he raised his voice, so she could hear him, "`The darkness will try to use weak spells to stop the magic.` It's in the prophecy! Violet must be the one it was talking about!"  
  
Mary stared at the lion Digimon, and then her head spun round to look at Violet as more gold dust flung her against the wall again. All the others were looking too. Mike felt a type of rage he had never encountered before bubble up inside him.  
  
He turned to Witchmon and seemed ready to pounce, but Steve grabbed his shoulder. Mike tried to shrug Steve's hand off, "Steve! I have to do something!"  
  
"You're just letting your heart control you, instead of your head!" Steve shot back.  
  
"And what's that supposed to mean?" Mike retorted.  
  
"It means you may actually fancy someone, Mike! Have you never considered that?" Mike stopped struggling and looked at Steve, who smiled.  
  
**************************************************************************  
  
"Tai, I think my grandson fancies your granddaughter!" Sora said. Tai blushed slightly.  
  
Matt leant towards the computer, "Izzy, is there any way we can help them? Because I think that may be why Gennai asked you to phone us and no one else!"  
  
Izzy rubbed his chin, "I guess it's possible. I hadn't thought of that."  
  
"Wow, that's the first time you haven't thought of something!" Tai teased. "Shut up."  
  
**************************************************************************  
  
Violet shrank against the cool, metal door as Witchmon raised her wand once more, undoubtedly for the kill. She buried her face in Pearlmon's warm skin, not wanting to see.  
  
"Pearlmon," she whispered, "I'm so sorry. I tried to help you. But I'm just not strong enough."  
  
Witchmon grin spread across her face as she began to yell, "Witch Sp." Violet face suddenly shot up and the digidestined (new and old) could see tears glistening on her face. Mike couldn't stop a thought of how beautiful they looked going through his mind.  
  
Violet suddenly spoke, interrupting Witchmon, "Wait a second, you can't do that. You have to follow the prophecy, and it didn't say that I got killed!"  
  
Witchmon's face contorted with rage, but she knew that the girl was right. Then she said, "Ah, but you'd be surprised what you can live through." She raised her wand again, and Violet could feel her tears running freely down her cheeks.  
  
But then, back in the real world, the original digidestined's began to glow. Izzy was the first to notice and then, gradually, they all did. Tai brought his up to look at it, but as soon as it was level with the computer screen, it began to shake and rattle. Suddenly, it shot a pure white light straight at the picture. All the others did as well. Tai tried to hold on, but his seemed to explode with light and he fell backwards. Sora fell on top of him, then Joe, then Matt, and last of all, Izzy tumbled down, completing the sandwich.  
  
Tai shook himself, then heaved, pulled, and finally managed to struggle out of the bottom. Of course, that made everyone else fall down. However, Tai didn't care, because he was staring at the screen. They all peeked over his shoulders and a gasp of wonder escaped them as well.  
  
**************************************************************************  
  
Witchmon was about to yell her attack when a ball of light shot out of thin air and across the sky. Violet gasped, but then she frowned in puzzlement as the ball stopped. Then it grew brighter and brighter, then vanished. Seconds later, a very familiar object began form. Violet grinned, "It's the moon!"  
  
Witchmon's face was a mask of shock and, most of all, fear. "No, it can't be," she whispered. Violet felt something swelling up in her, not pride, but something else. Then she realised. It was hope....  
  
It was as though something else had taken over Violet's mouth. She found herself saying, "You see, if the moon's there, then you're finished, because there's no way you'll win! Why? Because we never give up!"  
  
Her digivice started to glow. She stared down at it as it began to shake and emit the brightest light she'd ever seen. She covered her eyes, but then her hands started to glow as well. Mike took a step forward. He knew what was happening. She was digimorphing.  
  
Witchmon seemed ready to scream. Her mouth was open, but no sound emerged. There was a silence, then it was broken, "Violet digimorph to Moondramon!"  
  
The light faded, and in its place was a pure white dragon. It had a long tail that trailed behind it, before splitting in two, presenting a fountain effect. Its feet had three claws at the front and one more growing out of the back. Its hands had three claws that seemed to be easily capable of slicing you open. On its forehead was a full moon and another on each of the wings. There was a crescent moon on its arms as well.  
  
John opened his laptop, "That's Moondramon. She's guardian of the moon, and a real tough lady. She uses her Crescent Moon attack to dispose of enemies, so don't mess with her!"  
  
Witchmon and Moondramon glared at each other. Witchmon's face was contorted with a mixture of fear and rage. Moondramon's face was calm and only a flicker of anger crossed it.  
  
Witchmon raised her wand, "Witch Spell!" The gold dust shot out at Moondramon.Or at least, where Moondramon had been. With one sweep of her huge wings, she'd lifted right off the ground.  
  
She held her arms across each other in an X shape (kinda like the way ExVeemon does), and the moons on her shoulders began to glow, "Crescent Moon!" She split them apart like a Karate Chop (see previous note), and two crescent moons spun out at the wand in Witchmon's hand. It exploded into thousands of pieces, right in Witchmon's face.  
  
Witchmon stared at her empty hand, then she looked back at Moondramon, one last expression of arrogance on her face, "It doesn't matter what you do, you can't make yourself destroy me, because of the woman I once was!"  
  
In response, Moondramon let out a harsh call that made the hairs on the back of everyone's neck stand on end. It was a combination of a howl, a scream and a roar, and yet it was none of them. Whatever it was called, it made the digidestined's digivices start to glow and shoot out beams of light.  
  
Each beam was a different colour. Steve's was gold, Mike's was bluey-green, Mary's was flesh-pink, and John's was purple. The four colours swirled together and into Moondramon's flapping wings. The Digimon began to glow white. It was so bright, the digidestined had to cover their eyes. Then they heard her voice, except it sounded just like that eerie call she'd emitted, "Moonlight!"  
  
All the light shot out at Witchmon, who finally screamed the scream she'd been resisting ever since Violet digimorphed. There was a few seconds of intense light, then it faded. The digidestined uncovered their eyes and saw this scene.  
  
An old woman they guessed was Kari was lying stretched out, near the edge of the mountain. Closer to them, Violet was lying face down. Also, all the Digimon seemed to have been recharged by the light.  
  
Mike collapsed by Violet and was about to shake her shoulder when he noticed something. He peeled her T-shirt away from where it clung around her neck. There, almost hidden by her hair, was a picture of Moondramon's head, winking.  
  
He finally shook her shoulder. Her head lifted slightly, her eyes open, and she saw Kari. She looked at Mike and smiled, "We won, Mike. We won."  
  
WILL THE DIGIDESTINED RETURN HOME KNOW THAT WITCHMON HAS BEEN DEFEATED? OR WILL ANOTHER ENEMY REVEAL ITSELF? FIND OUT ON THE NEXT DIGIMON: DIGITAL MONSTERS!  
  
Author's note: If I had to describe this episode in one word, it would have to be LONG! The problem that I had been planning this for ages, so I'd come up with no less than 3 ideas for it. Oh, and can anyone guess the couples I'm working into this? One of them is so obvious I might as well have whacked you over the head with a frying pan or something, but the other one's much more subtle. Anyone feel like guessing? Disclaimer: I'm doing these every couple episodes or so, so here's an update... I DON'T OWN Digimon, I NEVER WILL OWN Digimon, AND ANYONE WHO THINKS I OWN DIGIMON NEEDS THEIR HEAD CHECKED!!!!!!  
  
Lady Moon 


	13. Quest for the Crests

Quest for the Crests  
  
  
  
  
  
Kari had woken up eventually. She seemed extremely upset, and, as Mary pointed out, she had a very good reason for it. She had left as soon as possible and the group had decided to get off the mountain immediately.  
  
Violet was a little weaker, as Moonlight had used up all her energy, but she was still full of beans. She and Mary always seemed to be chatting at the back of the group.  
  
Eventually, they found themselves back at the beach where Tidalmon had attacked. Thankfully, there was no Tidalmon. They all sat down, and began their usual beach activities. Or as usual as they could get in the Digiworld.  
  
Steve hugged his knees, watching Snowmon plunge into the waves. He wished he could join his Digimon, but there wasn't anywhere for him to get changed into the pair of swimming trunks he always carried (don't even ASK).  
  
Mike looked at Firepentmon, who sighed. He curled up and fell into a doze. He knew he couldn't keep up with Mike when he started running. Mike grinned and set off across the beach at a brisk jogging pace.  
  
Both Violet and Mary plonked themselves down on the sand. Mary pulled out her pad and started drawing, and Violet started typing on her computer. Pearlmon asked, "What are you doing?"  
  
"Well," Violet began, then glanced at Mary. Her friend nodded. The girl continued, "At home, my best friend, Lizzie, Mary and I have our own Digimon website. We also have different names that we call each other. Lizzie is called Digital Empress, but we just call her Empress, or, when I'm typing, she's DE. Mary is called Night Slayer, because of her fascination with all things Buffy, and I'm called Lady Moon.  
  
"Mary is in charge of pictures, I type different stories, plus I'm webmistress, which means I'm in charge of the website, and Lizzie comes up with all the weird ideas that give the website its reputation. At the moment, Mary and I are working on some stuff for the site." Both Digimon looked confused, so she tried again, with Mary helping.  
  
John switched on his computer, and then he frowned. There was a weird flashing light in the top right-hand corner of the screen. He tried clicking on it, and an e-mail popped up:  
  
`Dear John,  
  
The two of us have never met, but I do know you, and you know me. I am your grandfather, Izzy Izumi. ` John jerked backwards at that, but then he carried on reading it. `  
  
`Gennai asked me to warn you before he contacted you, as he wanted all of you to see it. By the way, congratulations on defeating Witchmon.  
  
Your Grandfather,  
  
Izzy`  
  
John shook his head, then looked back at the screen. The e-mail was still there. He gestured to Violet and Mary, who came over to see why he was acting so mad. They exchanged glances when they'd read it. Mary gestured to her dress, "There's no way I'll catch up with Mike in this. I'll try to stop Steve's daydream."  
  
Violet sighed, then started to run in the direction Mike had gone in. Mary crouched by Steve. He didn't react. She rolled her eyes, then shook his shoulder gently. No reaction.  
  
Carefully, she put her mouth very close to his ear, then shouted as loud as she could, "STEVE! JOHN WANTS YOU!"  
  
He jumped as though he'd been electrocuted. He spun round and yelled, "MARY! WHAT WAS THAT FOR?"  
  
Mary just winked and walked back towards John. Steve sighed, and then he jumped again when a voice in his ear sang, "Steve and Mary, up a tree, K-I- S-S-I-N-G!"  
  
"MIKE!" The blonde spun round and almost punched the laughing boy in the face, but he ducked. Then he (Mike) charged at his (Steve's) stomach. Therefore, they soon ended up rolling wheel fashion towards John.  
  
The tangle of arms and legs that was the two boys was about to ask what was going on when the screen of John's computer suddenly started glowing. The young boy jerked backwards as the light shone onto a space in front of him. A swirling figure began to form in the light. Soon, the light faded and the digidestined could see what it was.  
  
It was a robed man, with a brown beard, moustache and hair. His robe was white, with gold lining. He smiled at the digidestined, "Hi."  
  
V whispered, ~ "Feeling a sense of déjà vu?" ~  
  
Violet felt a shiver go down her spine. V was right. He did seem familiar. Then the man solved her problem, "You've heard of me. My name is Gennai."  
  
They all stared. Well, apart from Violet. She gave a snort of laughter. Then they all stared at her instead. She managed to stutter out, "H.he's like Obi-wan K.kenobi! F.first he's old, t.then he's young with a.a sort of p.pigtail, and n.now he's got a b.beard, just like Episode T.two!"  
  
Mary started to smile, then a laugh burst out of her as well. Violet's laughter could get very infectious. Soon, all the digidestined were laughing at the idea. Only Gennai remained serious, but Mike could see he was smiling and was trying extremely hard to stop himself from laughing.  
  
The laughter went on for about five more minutes, until they were all out of breath and had to stop. Then Gennai spoke, "I'm afraid you won't be in such a good mood soon, digidestined."  
  
That got their attention straight away. John asked, "Why not?"  
  
"Because you need to go travelling across the sea. There's a place called Trojan that desperately need some digidestined help."  
  
John interrupted, "`Trojan`? No wonder it needs help. It's bound to be full of viruses!"  
  
Steve glanced at John, "Why in particular?"  
  
John took a deep breath, and everyone groaned. They all knew the beginnings of one of John's lectures. The boy didn't notice. His voice took a strangely robotic tone, as he began, "Trojan is the name of a computer virus. It's illegal to use it, but it exists. You can send to another computer and..."  
  
"OK, OK, hold it right there, John. My ears can't take much more!" Violet interrupted. John stopped and Gennai continued with what he'd been saying.  
  
"Actually, there's more to it than defeating the evil Digimon. You also need to find your crests."  
  
"Has anyone else noticed how like Season 1 this is getting?" asked Steve. Gennai frowned.  
  
"Will you stop interrupting, please? I'm trying to talk. Anyway, as you know what the crests work, I'll go on to the next thing. I asked Whamon to give you a lift and he said OK. Also, he's dropping you off at an island where you'll find your tags."  
  
At those words, they all turned and looked out to see. In the distance, they could see the huge whale Digimon swimming towards them. He came as close to the beach as he could without beaching himself and the digidestined climbed on. Gennai waved, then disappeared in a flash of light.  
  
Whamon shot off. His speed caught everyone off guard and Mary screamed, "WHAMON! SLOW DOWN!"  
  
Luckily, he managed to hear her over the rushing water and he slowed down. Everyone let out the breath they'd been holding.  
  
About an hour later, they were all in a half-doze, when suddenly Whamon stopped. Steve was closest to consciousness and managed to say, "Are we there, Whamon?"  
  
"Yep. The island with no name," his `ride` replied. Steve rolled over and pinched Mike extremely hard on his arm. The dark-haired boy sprang to wakefulness and tried to murder the blonde, but he (Steve) pointed at the island Whamon was floating next to. Mike understood, and (reluctantly) started shaking Violet, who woke up grumpily. When she saw the island, she whispered something in Mary's ear and her friend awoke.  
  
Steve woke John by yelling, near his ear, "JOHN! YOUR COMPUTER'S FALLEN IN THE SEA!"  
  
In a flash, the younger boy was up, leaning over Whamon's side, trying to see his computer. Then he remembered that it was in his rucksack. He turned round to see Steve laughing, whilst everyone else was getting off. He stomped to the side and slid off, grabbing Steve's ankle on the way, so that he (John) landed on his feet, whilst he (Steve) landed on his `behind`.  
  
The two girls (and remaining boy) firmly positioned their hands over their mouths to stop themselves from laughing. Then there were two loud roars behind them, and all the digidestined turned to look.  
  
One of the roars belonged to a spitting image of a leopard. It growled, and the children noticed it had black eyes. The other roar belonged to a dragon Digimon, with icy blue scales, claws and wings. There were dots of glistening white all over it. It also had black eyes.  
  
John opened his computer and started typing. An image of the leopard one popped up. John read, "That's Leopardmon. She's a deadly hunter, with a Leopard Claw attack that can take you out in a swipe."  
  
"Well, what's the other one then?" Mary asked. John did some typing and Leopardmon's picture was replaced by one of the blue and white dragon.  
  
The boy read, "His name's Icedramon. He's an ice dragon which can freeze you in a second with his Dragon Ice."  
  
Both Mike and Violet tensed, ready for battle. So did Leopardmon and Icedramon. They stood in the same position for a second, and then light started to shoot from the children's digivices and enveloped them.  
  
"Mike digimorph to Tigermon!"  
  
"Violet digimorph to Moondramon!"  
  
Leopardmon and Tigermon leapt at each other, and the two dragon Digimon soared into the air. Mary glanced at the remaining digidestined and saw that Steve looked worried. She leant close to him, "What's wrong?"  
  
He looked at her, " Well, if our tags are on this island, Mike and Violet don't have time to fight." Then he shaded his eyes and looked up at Moondramon's silhouette, "Besides, I don't think Moondramon will be as powerful in the daytime."  
  
However, that didn't stop the Digimon. Tigermon slashed at Leopardmon, but his opponent swerved, then flung out a paw at the tiger Digimon. Moondramon tried her Crescent Moon, but Steve was right. It wasn't as powerful. Icedramon opened his mouth and shot ice at the moon dragon.  
  
Steve couldn't stand it. He wasn't going to see his friends killed. His hand touched a button on his digivice, without him realising what he was doing. Suddenly, it started to glow, and so did Snowmon.  
  
"Snowmon digivolve to Icemon!"  
  
The ice Digimon stood next to his human partner, who had no idea what happened. Then he grinned and climbed on. Icemon's back was smoother than he'd thought, so he threw his arms round his Digimon's neck to stop himself from falling off.  
  
Moondramon looked down at the ice Digimon. Then she smiled, and seemed to talk to Icemon, as Steve's Digimon nodded. Icemon shot an Ice Jewel at Icedramon. It wasn't powerful enough to hurt him, but it got him mad.  
  
He swooped down towards Steve and his `steed`. Icemon turned round and ran towards the water. He whispered to Steve, "Hold your breath. We're going under."  
  
The boy took a deep breath, shut his eyes and bent down. Icemon plunged into the sea and Icedramon hovered just above them, waiting for them to surface. Whilst her enemy was distracted, Moondramon flew up behind him, and used a move she hadn't used before.  
  
"Full Moon!" The moon on her forehead glowed and shot out a white light at the ice dragon. As soon as it hit him, the penultimate black ball came out and disintegrated.  
  
Meanwhile, the two big cat Digimon grappled with claws and teeth, slashing and biting at anything they could reach. Tigermon had managed to cut a line from Leopardmon's left ear to his shoulder, but the leopard Digimon had slashed across Tigermon's back and across his scar.  
  
They were a mass of fur and claws and teeth and blood. The digidestined knew they should help, but the battle was hypnotic. Then Leopardmon got a lucky cut across Tigermon's belly, and sent her adversary sprawling.  
  
Moondramon and Icemon both went back to their former selves without anyone noticing. Violet raised an eyebrow at the fighters, then Pearlmon pointed out to her, "Mike's not acting like a person who's turned into a Digimon, is he?"  
  
The girl replied, "Well, I guess there's a bit of the real Digimon in us, so when we digimorph it surfaces. Thing is, it only takes control if its feelings are either stronger than ours or if it has the same emotions as we do. Then, I suppose we become a true Digimon, rather than half-Digimon, half-human."  
  
"How do you know?" Her Digimon asked, surprised that Violet knew what was happening.  
  
"It just came to me. Also, I felt something like it when I was fighting Witchmon. I wanted to turn her back, and Moondramon wanted to turn her back."  
  
Steve crouched next to her, "So you think Tigermon and Mike were feeling angry?" She nodded. He continued, "Well, what do we do?"  
  
At that, the girl shrugged, "I don't know."  
  
Steve sighed. Then he jumped when Firepentmon nudged him. He'd forgotten about the Digimon, and the cool reptile skin was not what he was expecting to feel on a hot beach. He looked down at the fire snake, "What?"  
  
The Digimon replied, "If I know Mike, he doesn't get this angry about fighting Digimon, at least, when it isn't their fault. I think Tigermon's anger was a lot stronger than Mike's, which is why he's fighting like a tiger, and not like a boy."  
  
Mary joined in, "Well, we have to help. If we don't, Mike could get killed."  
  
Violet rolled her eyes, "Thank you for that optimistic piece of news. We'll ponder that for a while."  
  
Steve sighed, "We have to find a way to get Mike back in control."  
  
"Yes! Superb idea! We'll just walk up to him and say `please let Mike have control. ` And while we're doing that, we can avoid either of them ripping us apart!" Violet said sarcastically.  
  
At this point, V intervened, ~ 'You could just try to trigger one of Mike's stronger emotions.' ~  
  
Violet replied, 'Yeah, let's stick Steve in front of him! That way, he'll attack Steve and not Leopardmon. Brilliant!'  
  
However, it was a good idea, and she relayed it to the group. Soon, they were all sitting down trying to think of a way to trigger his memories. Well, all except for Firepentmon and Violet. They couldn't stop watching the battle.  
  
Suddenly, an idea flickered between the two of them. They exchanged glances, and each saw their expression in the other's face. They nodded, and slipped away.  
  
Firepentmon went first, hurling himself down between the two cats. The two Digimon stopped and stared, and a flicker of recognition went across Tigermon's face. Then both of them snarled. Who was this Digimon, to so boldly interrupt their fight for their honour (which was what it was)?  
  
Then Violet flung herself down, next to Firepentmon. Again the two fighters stopped, but this time Tigermon didn't start snarling again. He stared at the crouching girl. What was so familiar about her?  
  
Then a tidal wave of thought crashed into his mind, and he took a step backwards. What was he doing? Why was he fighting? There had to be a way that didn't end in blood. And how could he even THINK of hurting his Digimon?  
  
Leopardmon couldn't understand what was happening. She was fighting Tigermon, who was a worthy opponent, but a Digimon and a human had appeared, and her enemy wasn't moving. She snarled impatiently and aimed at the girl, "Leopard Claw!"  
  
Tigermon leapt in the way, "Tiger Swipe!"  
  
The two paws met, and sent their owners flying back. Leopardmon was up first, growling like a steam engine. Violet stood up, frowning at the Digimon. Then a large red bird with a plume of flame on its head swooped down, "Phoenix Fire!"  
  
The fire shot out at the unsuspecting Leopardmon. She was about to leap, and the blast sent her rolling forwards. Then the very last black ball burst out and disappeared.  
  
Tigermon glowed and shrank. Soon, an exhausted looking Mike lay on his back. Phoenixomon went back to Mythicmon and flew onto John's outstretched fist. The boy proceeded to stroke his Digimon's wings.  
  
Mary had disappeared at some point between Firepentmon and Violet's landing between the two cats and Phoenixomon's entrance. Suddenly she appeared again, running away from a cave in the small hill that was in the centre of the island.  
  
She yelled, "You guys, I found the tags! They're in that cave!" She gestured over her shoulder. The group stared at her, and then Steve stood up and walked towards the cave.  
  
Violet smacked Mike twice to wake him up. He groaned, then he sat up, holding his head. He took in Steve walking towards the cave, with John behind him, and pulled himself to his feet.  
  
Minutes later, they were all standing around an open box. The box itself had beautiful patterns carved into it, with a picture of an arrow and a sword crossed on the front. Behind them was a picture of one of their digivices. But the only thing the digidestined were interested in was the contents of the box. Five silver necklaces with a glass hexagon on the front lay in a pile.  
  
Steve reached out and picked the middle one up. It flashed and he dropped it in surprise. It had given him an electric shock. Mike picked up the one under the top one. It lay in his hand innocently. On the back was a carving of a sword.  
  
John picked up the bottom one. It had a picture of a key on the back. Violet cautiously picked up the one Steve had dropped. It didn't flash, and she carefully turned it over. On the back was a candle. Mary picked up the one that had been on top of John's. On the back was an engraving of a jewel.  
  
Steve picked up the only one that was left. It was the one that had been on top. On the back were three arrows that joined at the start, then split up. One pointed forwards, one to the right and the other to the left. He raised an eyebrow, then turned to the group, "Well, we've got our tags, now let's go to Trojan and get our crests!"  
  
WHAT NEW ENEMIES AWAIT THEM IN TROJAN? AND WILL THEY ALL FIND THEIR CRESTS? FIND OUT ON THE NEXT DIGIMON: DIGITAL MONSTERS!  
  
Author's Note: Why is it the most basic ones are always the long ones? This one's storyline was simple: They meet Gennai, they ride Whamon to island, they find crests. That was it. This `Short to Long` thing HAS TO STOP!!!!  
  
Oh, and a little note to readers: PLEASE REVIEW!!!!!!!! The only reviews I ever get are for the first chapter, and there's LOADS more than that! So please! Review!!!!!  
  
P.S. MistyEyes, if you've read this far, you'll be pleased to know I'm considering changing it soon. Just next time don't get so moody with me! Hey, anyone else want me to update it to Series 05? TELL ME!!!! 


	14. Leader of the Pack

Leader of the Pack  
  
  
  
Steve hugged his knees as Whamon swam through the water. The others lay next to the boy, asleep. He sighed. They'd been travelling steadily for three days now. Occasionally Whamon stopped at an island so they could get food, but otherwise they all needed a chance to stretch their legs.  
  
His hand went to his neck and started fingering his tag. He couldn't stop thinking about it. He wondered where his crest was, and, more importantly, what enemy was waiting on Trojan.  
  
He looked at the horizon, expecting to see sea, sea and more sea. Instead, he saw a blot that grew steadily bigger as they swam towards it.  
  
He leant forwards, "Whamon, is that it?"  
  
The Digimon replied, "Yep. One island; A million troubles. The one and only Trojan."  
  
Minutes later they were all awake and watching the blur on the horizon grow bigger and bigger and form itself into an island. Then, "Wow. Is that all one island?" John gasped.  
  
The island stretched before them, and none of them could see the edges any more. As Whamon positioned himself where they could get off, Mary whispered to Steve, "Steve, how are we going to find our crests on an island that big?"  
  
He shrugged. The same thought had occurred to him, and he didn't know what to do. Then Whamon docked and Mike slipped off. Violet went next, dragging Mary after her, as the girl (Mary) hadn't looked happy about sliding off. John sat down and pushed forwards, and Steve took a step backwards. He hadn't forgotten John pulling him off.  
  
Steve looked the way Whamon was positioned before he got off. He saw a beach, with a forest at the edge. Then he turned inland. He saw the forest stretching into the distance, with mountains looking as though they were piercing the sky.  
  
"Hey, Steve! You coming?" Mike yelled, impatient. He wanted to get going.  
  
The blonde sighed and slid down Whamon's side. When he reached the others, he said, "We'd better get moving. This place is so big, we need to do some serious searching to find our crests."  
  
Violet saluted and announced, "Sir, yes sir!" He glared at her, and she grinned back. The other digidestined all started laughing. Violet had a habit of making them all laugh. Soon, Steve was doubled up as well.  
  
Eventually, they started along the beach, after saying goodbye to Whamon. The sand was pale and powdery, and Mary suggested that they should take off their shoes. They all did so, and soon the two girls were paddling.  
  
Of course, Violet couldn't resist the temptation to kick some water at the boys, and soon they were all hurtling down the beach, chasing the girl. Suddenly, she screeched to a stop, and pointed ahead. Settled on the sand like a contented cat, was a shop.  
  
They all stood still for a second, then Mike teased, "Well, what do we do now, fearless leader?"  
  
Steve's reaction to this comment was to smack him. Mike slapped him back, with more force, and soon they were fighting tooth and nail. Violet smacked her head, "When we get back home, those two are going to a psychiatrist."  
  
Mary nodded her agreement, and John grinned. Eventually, Violet tapped one foot, crossed her arms, frowned and cleared her throat as loudly as she could. The boys stopped for a second, and Violet glared at them. Of course, this was her see-into-your-soul-glare, saved for special occasions.  
  
The boys looked at each other sheepishly, and then they each brushed themselves off. Then Steve gestured to the shop, "We might as well have a look. If there is an evil Digimon in there, we can always digivolve. Right, Snowmon?"  
  
His Digimon nodded, "Yeah! I bet whatever Digimon is in there is nothing compared to what we've seen!"  
  
Whilst all this was going on, John walked up to the shop and peeked inside. Mythicmon asked, "What can you see?"  
  
"It's very dark, but I don't think there's a Digimon in there," John replied, squinting into the darkness.  
  
"Only one way to find out," Mythicmon pointed out. John nodded, and pushed the door open. It was one of the creakiest he'd ever heard. The others heard him, and Mary peeked over his shoulder.  
  
It looked like an average beach shop, with deckchairs, flip-flops, sun- hats, sunglasses, towels, swimming costumes, and so on. However, this one had a sign at the end that said `To the Changing Rooms`.  
  
John whistled, "Wow. If I didn't know better, I would have thought we'd gone home."  
  
"I don't think there are usually changing rooms at home, though," Mike pointed out. Steve took a step in. Nothing happened. He looked around.  
  
"Looks deserted. I think we can risk looking at some stuff," he told them.  
  
Violet suggested a swim, and Steve and Mike raced to get changed, so that they could have a race. Steve was ready first, as he had his own pair of trunks in his backpack. He emerged from the changing rooms blushing slightly and with both arms crossed across his chest.  
  
Violet stuck one hand other her eyes, muttering, "Aye, aye, aye!" Then she covered Mary's eyes with her spare hand. The other girl wasn't aware of Steve's presence, so she hadn't covered her eyes.  
  
When the blonde had left, with a borrowed towel, Violet removed both of her hands, "Mary, I think I should just set up some deckchairs for the two of us. John can probably figure them out himself."  
  
Mary looked at her in surprise, "You know how to set up a deckchair?"  
  
"Mum taught me. She said that, if I ever got married, I needed to know how to set one up, as no man likes to do it himself."  
  
Mary laughed. She knew Violet's mum. The two girls stealthily crept out of the room, with a deckchair each, leaving John to puzzle over what the heck a shop was doing there.  
  
***********************************************************************  
  
Steve and Snowmon were happily splashing about together, in the water of course. Snowmon had only ever seen Steve swimming once, and that was when the two of them were trying to get their friends to land, so he was impressed with his partner's skill. Soon they were seeing which one of them could hold their breath longest.  
  
Suddenly, something streaked through the water and hit Steve with so much force he was almost knocked unconscious. He opened his mouth and immediately swallowed at least a quarter of the ocean. Snowmon bit the top of his partner's trunks and pulled him to the surface.  
  
Steve gasped as he was pulled above the water level. Then he turned round to see his attacker. It had a smooth body, which only compared to a snake's, but it had to be a fat snake. It had a long tail that ended in a sharp point, and it had clawed hands and feet, except that they were webbed as well. It had long curved things on its head that were positioned exactly like ears. Dangerously sharp teeth filled its mouth. The whole thing was a brilliant sapphire blue.  
  
Snowmon's mouth dropped open, "I've never seen a Digimon like that, and I get The Diginews every month!"  
  
The thing smirked, "Who I am does not matter to you, but if you insist, I'll tell you. My name is Sapphiremon. I am one of the fastest swimmers in the Digiworld, and if you dare to defy me, my Sapphire Sea will soon dispose of you." His voice sounded muffled, and then Steve saw why.  
  
Firmly clamped in the Digimon's mouth was a cornflower blue shell, the kind that could open. He pointed it out to Snowmon, and whispered a plan to him. Snowmon nodded, "Snowmon digivolve to Icemon!"  
  
The two Digimon hurled themselves at each other. Sapphiremon spit the shell out into one hand, then puffed up his cheeks as if he was about to blow extremely hard, "Sapphire Sea!" A sparkling stream of water shot out of his mouth, and Steve could see thousands of miniature sapphires rushing along in it.  
  
Icemon dodged the water, but only just. Then he sprang at Sapphiremon and knocked the shell out of his hand. Steve tried to catch it, but the blue Digimon knocked him with the back of one of his hands. Then he whammed the boy with his tail (which was a lot stronger than it looked), and the blonde was sent flying.  
  
When he hit the water, he went straight under. Sapphiremon turned back to Icemon, and hit him with another Sapphire Sea. He went under too. The evil Digimon smirked, and then dived under, to look for the shell.  
  
***********************************************************************  
  
Steve plunged further and further down. He only hung to consciousness by a thread. Suddenly, he felt his hand collide with something. Somehow, he forced his eyes opened and looked at it. It was the shell Sapphiremon had been holding.  
  
Without thinking, he reached out and grabbed it. However, as he brought it closer to him, it started to emit a gold light. Then, as it became level with his tag, it seemed to explode with the light. He dropped it in shock, but the light kept shining. It grew brighter and brighter, until all he could see was gold light. Then the thread that held him to consciousness snapped, and his eyes closed.  
  
***********************************************************************  
  
Sapphiremon cursed when he saw the light. He knew what it meant. And it also meant that he had failed his master. Then a line of light sped towards him and impaled him right through the heart. He exploded into digidust.  
  
**********************************************************************  
  
Above the water, the sight was almost as amazing. A wave of gold swept over the ocean, then Icemon's head popped above the water. Somehow, the light had revived him. Then he dived under to look for his partner.  
  
Violet put a hand on Mary's shoulder, "I'm sure he isn't dead, Mary."  
  
"How do you know?" her friend retorted. Violet smiled to herself as she thought of the reply.  
  
'Because I've got a voice in my head called V, who is the girl version of the prophet Elijah.'  
  
~ 'I am not!' ~ V answered, taking offence.  
  
Then Mike jumped up from where he had been sitting, "Hey, over there!" They all looked, and saw Icemon swimming towards them, with Steve lying on his back. When he reached them, he shook the blonde off, then glowed and shrank back to Snowmon.  
  
Steve was lying very still, but Snowmon said, "He's breathing. He's just unconscious." As he spoke, Steve started coughing.  
  
He opened his eyes slightly, and then he started to turn a shade of green none of them had ever seen before. However, they all knew what it meant. They turned away, and John mumbled, "Steve, do it in the bushes."  
  
They heard the sounds of Steve `relieving` himself about a zillion gallons of sea water. They only turned round when the noise stopped. Steve was sitting on the sand, sucking in air. Then the now setting sun flashed off something gold around his neck.  
  
Mike gestured at it, "Steve, what's that?" The blonde put his hand where Mike had pointed. It met his tag. He brought it up to where he could see it. There was a golden crest in it, with the same picture as the one on his digivice. The crest of Leadership.  
  
Violet smirked, "You know what that means? He's the leader of the pack." She tilted her head back and pretended to howl like a wolf. Mary jumped, then shoved her.  
  
Steve looked back at his crest. It looked so innocent in his hand, he had no idea of the trouble it would cause.  
  
WHO WAS SAPPHIREMON'S MASTER? AND WHERE ARE THE OTHER DIGIDESTINED'S CRESTS? FIND OUT ON THE NEXT DIGIMON: DIGITAL MONSTERS!  
  
Author's Note: Ok, so maybe I was listening to Starlight Express whilst writing this. And maybe I was singing along to `There's a Light at the End of the Tunnel` whilst I was writing about the golden light. That doesn't mean anything! Oh and I got a review for a chapter that wasn't the first one! #skips around happily # THANKYOU HONOR!!!!! 


	15. Crystals, Feathers and Crests

Crystals, Feathers and Crests  
  
  
  
Mary gave a small yelp as a thorn caught her left leg. The boys didn't notice, but Violet knelt next to her and looked at it closely, "That one managed to get through. Wait a second, I'll get out a plaster."  
  
She produced a plaster. Mary noticed the picture, and pleaded, "Please, not that one!"  
  
"Why, don't you like Piglet?" Violet grinned, placing the Winnie-the-Pooh plaster firmly over the offending cut. By now, the boys had noticed the hold-up.  
  
"What is it now? Another thorn?" Mike asked, with a sigh. Violet nodded. He continued, "That's the fifth one in the last two hours."  
  
Steve rolled his eyes, "If you can hold on for a bit longer without being ripped to shreds, we'll try and find somewhere to rest."  
  
Violet put her hands together like a nun, "Come, noble Mary. Let Sister Violet show you the way."  
  
Mary grinned. Steve turned around and carried on up the rough path the group had been following. It had led off the beach, and had produced no end of thorns, stinging nettles and other pleasantries. Violet was the only one who could find anything funny about it.  
  
As they stumbled on, she pointed out, "It could be worse. We could be balancing on the edge of an active volcano with twenty Witchmon attacking us."  
  
They all had to agree. Just then, they heard a strange screeching sound, like a cat that's been stroked the wrong way. It came again, and then there was a weird chuckle. It was a cross between a mud-monster's and a series of clicks. It was very strange. They all shivered, and then they followed the noise.  
  
**************************************************************************  
  
The owner of the laugh/clicks laughed as he watched them. As if he'd be foolish enough to just wait around for those idiots. No, he would hide, and if they tracked him down, he would kill them. In his mind, it was that simple.  
  
Then his thoughts turned to the crests. His pathetic servant, Sapphiremon, had failed to bring him Leadership, the idiot. As far as the mysterious Digimon could tell, it was one of the more powerful crests. Never mind, it would soon have Protection. Very soon...  
  
**************************************************************************  
  
The group stopped in a more-or-less clear space. At least, it wasn't covered with a carpet of thorns. Mary firmly sat down and refused to budge. Violet sat next to her, saying something about how she wished they could stop at a MacDonalds. John got out his computer and got typing. Steve and Snowmon tried to work out where they should go, and where the crests were, until Snowmon said that one might be in a volcano, which made both of them shut up. Meanwhile, Mike kicked a tempting stone. It bounced off several rocks, and then something roared as it hit it.  
  
The thing came into the light. Its body was the same snake shape as Sapphiremon. Its tail had a point like an arrow's, it had three-clawed hands, but no legs, and a pair of dragon's wings. Its version of ears curved, had a point, went up, curved backwards, then they curved up. Its body was a brilliant silver, its teeth were white, and its eyes were the palest blue in the world (Sorry, Digiworld). A trail of miniature crystals floated out behind it.  
  
It growled, "My name is Crystalmon. I dispose of people like you with my Crystal Wind, and I am one of the fastest fliers in the Digiworld." Its voice was female, but there was something in her voice that told them not to mess with her.  
  
She suddenly swooped towards Mike. He got out of the way just in time. She screeched in anger. Then she sped towards him faster than anything he had ever seen before. Before anyone could do anything, she had collided with him, and sent him flying backwards.  
  
He struggled to his feet, but then Crystalmon hit him again. Suddenly Steve realised what she was doing. He sprang forwards and grabbed her by the neck. She turned swiftly around, so fast that she knocked him off. He fell backwards into Snowmon.  
  
His Digimon asked, "What did you do that for?"  
  
Steve replied, "Don't you realise? She's driving him away from us!" Crystalmon frowned when she heard that. Then she picked Mike up by the T- shirt, flew into the air, and then she flung him away. As he fell, she shouted, "Crystal Wind!"  
  
She blew as hard as she could, and a fierce wind, almost a hurricane, blew towards the boy. A thousand miniature crystals glistened in it. It hit Mike, and carried him further away from his friends. Eventually, it dropped him, and he fell down, gathering speed, until he landed heavily on some kind of plant. It was huge and rubbery, and as he hit it, he went sailing up again.  
  
This carried on for a bit, and then he was able to put his feet firmly on the ground. He sighed, "How come Digimon love trying to kill me?"  
  
Then he said, "You're talking to yourself. Did you know that?"  
  
To which he replied, "Oh, shut up." He shut his mouth firmly. Instead of talking to himself, he looked around him. He was in the centre of a perfect circle of the rubbery plants. He glanced up, and saw Crystalmon silhouetted against the sun.  
  
She seemed to be in a hurry, and he made up his mind to follow her. He squeezed through the gap in between two plants, and ran after the trail of crystals she left behind. She was speeding up, so he did too. Soon, he was running at least one kilometre an hour. But Crystalmon was still speeding up.  
  
He was running out of air, and he was developing a stitch. He was about to give up, when a feather fell onto his shoulder. He managed to glance at it. It was flame-red, huge, and immediately he knew whom it belonged to. He whispered, "Birdramon."  
  
There was a familiar screech, and then he heard Birdramon's voice shouting, "Digimorph, Mike!"  
  
He frowned in agreement. His digivice began to glow, as he said, "Mike digimorph to Tigermon!"  
  
As Tigermon, he ran twice as fast, easily catching up with Crystalmon. Then he carried on running. Something inside him, the essence of the tiger Digimon he had become, knew where she was going. And was making sure he got there first.  
  
He ran on, Tigermon's spirit guiding them. Crystalmon spotted him, and the direction they were going, and snarled.  
  
Tigermon stopped outside a cave, and became Mike once more. He peered in cautiously, and then he saw a weird light coming from the back. He walked towards it, then stopped in his tracks. It was a sword, but no ordinary sword. For starters, it was hovering in mid-air. Then, there was the fact that it was emitting a strange light. Also, the blade glimmered silver, with digispeak written along it, and it had a bluey-green hilt. A tiny shield with a cross covering it was carved into the hilt, with a miniature sword behind it. It was the crest of Protection.  
  
He reached out and was about to touch it, when he heard a snarl behind him. He spun round, and saw Crystalmon blocking the entrance. She roared as she swooped at him. He rolled to his right, and she swooped again. He was near the exit, when he recognised the manoeuvre. She was driving him away from the sword. Just when she was about to dive, he ran forwards, towards her. She stopped in shock. Was this HUMAN CHILD going to attack her?  
  
But Mike had a different plan. He ducked under her, and carried on running, towards the sword. Crystalmon screeched and swooped towards him, teeth bared, claws outstretched. She was about to reach him, when he grabbed the sword.  
  
The light faded, and then a bluey-green light shot out from the carving to hit Mike in the chest. He gripped the sword tightly, and then he spun round and drove it right into Crystalmon's heart. She screamed, as she should. Mike gritted his teeth, calling up any spare energy that he had, willing the sword to stay there. Then she exploded. He let out the breath he hadn't realised he had been holding. He looked down at his tag, and saw a bluey- green crest fixed firmly inside. He thought, "I hope the others find me." Then he fainted.  
  
**************************************************************************  
  
At that moment, Steve's digivice went berserk. It started glowing, and shaking, and then a beam of golden light shot from his crest to the device. Immediately, it bounced off, and hit the ground. A bluey-green light suddenly appeared, coming out of the trees, and joined it.  
  
The two lights merged, and then the ball of light they had become hovered in front of the open-mouthed digidestined. Then Violet managed to say, "I think it wants us to go with it."  
  
"What? How do you know?" John asked, turning to her. She felt herself begin to sweat, but then the ball shot off into the forest. The kids exchanged glances, and then they tore after it. It dodged in between trunks, twigs and leaves, with the digidestined charging after it like a herd of elephants.  
  
Eventually it stopped, and split into two separate blobs of light. The gold blob returned to Steve's crest, whilst the bluey-green one swooped down to someone who was lying at the mouth of a cave, with a sword next to them. Mary clapped a hand over her mouth, "Mike!"  
  
**************************************************************************  
  
Mike opened his eyes slightly, and saw the light of a campfire. He opened them fully, and sat up. All the digidestined were asleep, except that he couldn't see one of them. There was a noise behind him and he looked in that direction. He saw Violet watching him. She smiled, slightly, "Tough day, huh?"  
  
He nodded. She looked up at the moon; "I'm starting to think that someone's trying to stop us getting us from getting our crests."  
  
"D'ya think?" he asked, sarcastically. She didn't change her expression. He raised an eyebrow. It wasn't like Violet not to laugh at a joke.  
  
She looked into the fire, and whispered, so quietly no one could hear her, the words she had seen written on the sword's blade, "`Beware, Protection. Leadership's anger has not been quietened. You will have to face him, not as a friend, but as an enemy, someday. And it will be sooner than you think.`"  
  
WHAT DOES THE STRANGE MESSAGE MEAN? AND WHO IS THE STRANGE, SHADOWY DIGIMON? FIND OUT ON THE NEXT DIGIMON: DIGITAL MONSTERS!  
  
Author's Note: Man, I'm getting these out pretty fast now. I guess it's the reviews. The more reviews I get, the more I want to get these out so I can thanks people. Anyway, here is a quick explanation of the title: CRYSTALmon was the evil Digimon, the FEATHER inspired Mike, and it's about Mike finding his CREST. DO YOU UNDERSTAND?  
  
Anyway, I've decided to dedicate this chapter to Alan Wilkinson, for all his great reviews! THANKYOU!!!! And, in answer to your question, it gets answered later, but basically, the media found out, and decided t made a good TV show. Or something like that. Anyway, Digimon belongs to Toei, and my digidestined and Digimon belong to (guess who) ME!  
  
Lady Moon 


	16. Warrior's Honour

Warrior's Honour  
  
  
  
~ 'Two down, three to go,' ~ V said as the digidestined walked along a rocky path.  
  
'I never knew you were a maths whiz,' Violet thought back. ~ 'Violet, you mustn't forget the sword.' ~ 'Why, it was written to Mike. And I ain't no messenger girl.' ~ 'So you are one then.' ~ '...Eh?' Mary looked at her friend, "Violet, is something wrong?"  
  
Violet shook her head so violently her hair started spinning round her head. The boys, as usual, ignored them. The two girls were starting to get annoyed about this, and they'd told each other that they wouldn't start a conversation with the male species.  
  
As the path grew rockier and rockier, Violet gasped, "We always choose luxury destinations, don't we? First it was running from a mad Roarermon, then it was falling off a cliff, then Tidal Wave Beach, then Tuskmon's cave, then a mountain, then a factory with wild Mekanorimon inside, then Gazimon Playground, then Witchmon's fortress, then the Digiworld North Pole for Steve and Mike, the mad Roarermon's home for me, the Digi Ruins for you and John, then Infinity Mountain, then `Paradise Island`, then the beach of Sapphiremon, then the Forest of Thorns, and now the Rocks That Pretend to be a Path. When are we going to find a five-star hotel?"  
  
"Or a beach with really handsome lifeguards," Mary dreamed. Violet sighed.  
  
Just then, Mythicmon spotted something in the distance. He swooped onto his favourite perch (John's shoulder). He ruffled his feathers and said, "There's a cave down there. But there's also some kind of wooden thing with bits sticking out of it."  
  
"Bow before the master of descriptions," Violet muttered. Mythicmon glared at her, and she gave him a grin.  
  
"I'm not sure about the wooden thing, but we can always check out the cave. If it's safe, we could rest there," Steve told them.  
  
At the word `rest`, Mary immediately perked up. Violet smiled at her, then turned to the boys, "OK, how about us girls check it out, for a change? We never get to do anything."  
  
Steve looked like he had a different idea, but Mary gave him a sweet smile that she'd been practising. He grinned, and nodded. Violet scooped up Pearlmon in her arms, and they walked ahead.  
  
****************************************************************************  
  
When the girls had left, Mike gave a small chuckle. Steve turned to look at him, "What?"  
  
"Isn't it strange that you gave in when Mary gave you that look? I think that you might have a crush on her," Mike said, trying to keep his face straight. John hid his grin behind his computer.  
  
"Mike, you know you have a crush on Violet!"  
  
"Do I, now?"  
  
"Yes, you do! What about that whole `Steve, I have to help her` thing?"  
  
"I was just worried about her!"  
  
Violet, Pearlmon, Mary and Jewelmon crouched behind a boulder, listening. Then each of them gave a little snort of laughter. Then they heard someone coming to investigate, and scampered away.  
  
****************************************************************************  
  
As soon as they were out of earshot, they all exploded into fits of giggles. When they reached the cave, they were still screeching with laughter. Then Violet noticed the wooden thing.  
  
"Mary, we use that in my martial arts class sometimes! Our teacher spins it round, and we have to either hit each of the bars as they come, or we have to dodge all of them!"  
  
A voice came from the cave, "That's right. I use it to heighten my skills, and now I will use those skills to defeat you!"  
  
****************************************************************************  
  
John frowned at his computer's screen, "What's that?"  
  
Steve looked at him, "What's what?"  
  
"There's a dot on here that's a different colour to the usual dots."  
  
Mike joined in, "Excuse me?"  
  
"I set up a program which tells me what's in our area. The blue dots are us, the green dots are our Digimon, the white dots are good Digimon, and the black dots are bad Digimon. I've never seen red dots before, but there's one where the cave is."  
  
Snowmon growled, "It can only be trouble. Come on Steve, let's go!" Steve hesitated. His Digimon looked at him, "What's the matter?"  
  
The blonde sighed, "The girls might think that we think that they can't handle it. If they thought that, they wouldn't be in a good mood."  
  
Mike realised what he was getting at, "Violet is always dangerous when she's mad."  
  
Steve nodded. They were just pondering what to do, when John said, "The red dot's rushing at the girls. I think that any second now..." He paused, and then they heard Mary scream.  
  
****************************************************************************  
  
The Digimon looked like a woman in her early twenties. She was wearing a pair of tight black trousers, a black sleeveless, a pair of black gloves, and a pair of black boots. Over her clothes, she wore black body armour, and a black sheath was slung on her left side. A hilt of a black sword stuck out of it. A quiver of arrows was on her back, and she held a black bow in her left hand. A black helmet covered the top half of her face, and her black hair was so long it reached her hip.  
  
She announced, "My name is Warriormon. I am one of the most powerful warriors in the Digiworld, and few have escaped my Warrior's Sword. Those that have were soon struck down by my arrows, and whilst I work for no-one, I am not afraid to kill."  
  
Mary promptly opened her mouth and screamed. Warriormon glared at her and raised one hand, "Warrior's Revenge!" Thousands of small balls of black fire shot out of it and knocked her down. Violet frowned and leapt at her. The Digimon knocked her out of the way, and drew her black sword. She aimed the blade at Pearlmon and shouted, "Warrior's Sword!"  
  
She knocked the Digimon out easily, and was about to go in for the kill, when Violet grabbed her arm. The Digimon spun round, and smiled, "Finally, someone who wants to fight me. I bet you hate me."  
  
Violet nodded, ignoring V's voice, which pleaded, ~ 'Violet, she's trying to get you into a trap.' ~  
  
Warriormon's smile widened, "I'll tell you what. If you can defeat me in a sword fight, I'll give you your crest."  
  
A puzzled look came across Violet's face, "My crest?"  
  
"Yes. Your crest is in my cave, but I refuse to give it to someone who doesn't deserve it."  
  
Violet bit her lip, and then she looked up at Warriormon, "Alright. I accept your challenge."  
  
Warriormon raised her left hand and threw away her bow. Then she drew a sword out of thin air. Violet gasped. It was the same one Mike had had, except it didn't have the crest of Protection on it. Instead, it had three jewels set into the hilt, one a ruby, one an emerald, one a diamond. The Digimon tossed it to her, and she caught it. Warriormon announced, "Let us begin." And neither of them saw Jewelmon fly silently away.  
  
****************************************************************************  
  
Steve was pacing nervously. The girls were taking too long to get back. Mike had tried to say something to stop him being so worried, but it had just ended up starting another argument.  
  
Just then, Jewelmon landed on a rock in front of him. He blinked, and then he noticed that she was alone, "Jewelmon? Where's the girls?"  
  
She grinned sheepishly, "Well..." She trailed off, and then started talking so fast they could only just keep up with her, "We found a Warriormon who knocked out Mary and Pearlmon and she's tricked Violet into having a sword fight with her so that she can have her crest." She stopped, panting.  
  
There was a moment of silence, and then Steve and Mike screamed, "WHAT?"  
  
John sighed. He already knew what was going on. He'd been watching it on his computer. Now he joined in the conversation...  
  
****************************************************************************  
  
Violet, however, had no time for conversations. Warriormon was attacking her full force, but somehow she had managed to match her, blow for blow. Then Warriormon managed to scrape Violet's side. That was it. Violet hurled herself at the Digimon, and then she heard V saying, ~ 'Violet, I can take care of this clown. Let me fight.' ~  
  
'OK. You can probably do a better job than I can,' Violet thought back.  
  
Suddenly the sword started glowing. Violet gripped it, and then V was holding it. V controlled her whole body, and she used that power well. She swung the sword straight up, so that Warriormon had to use all her strength in a desperate parry. Feinting to the left, V then swung round in a circle that forced the Digimon to leap back several metres. She followed them up with several fast slashes, until she had the warrior Digimon trapped against the cave wall.  
  
****************************************************************************  
  
The three boys and four Digimon watched with open mouths. Only Mike could speak, and all he could say was a hoarse "Wow".  
  
****************************************************************************  
  
V held the sword near Warriormon's throat. The Digimon smiled, "You win," she dropped her voice and whispered, "even though you're not Violet."  
  
V blinked in surprise, and then she smiled. Then it was Violet holding the sword. She looked at Warriormon with wide eyes. Then the Digimon managed to pull herself away, and beckoned to the girl, who followed. They walked into the cave, and then they were confronted by a gigantic engraving of Violet's crest of Inspiration. The huge candle seemed to call to the girl, who stepped forwards. As soon as she touched it, a beam of reddy-brown light shot from it to her tag.  
  
The whole engraving started to glow, and when the light faded, it had vanished. The whole thing had been transported to her tag. She walked out, and was confronted by Mike. He was looking at her in a strange way, and then he poked her, "OK, start explaining. Where did you learn to fight like that?"  
  
Violet felt her hands get sweaty, before Warriormon put a hand on her shoulder, "Some people have hidden talents. I can sometimes sense them if they are strong, and I sense you have a strange one."  
  
Mike raised an eyebrow, but turned around and went to tell the others. Mary had managed to come round eventually, and she waved at Violet, "Violet, Mythicmon spotted something moving in the bushes. We need to catch it, so we need to hurry up!"  
  
Violet began to walk towards her, but Warriormon stopped her, "Wait, I want to give something to you." She held out a belt, with the sword Violet/V had used in a sheath on it. Violet took it, and was about to ask why when Warriormon grinned and told her, "You'll need it, and so will your... other self. It's not easy having a guardian in you, so you'll need help."  
  
"`Guardian`?" Violet repeated. Warriormon nodded, then motioned that their meeting was over. Violet strapped the belt around her waist, and thanked Warriormon. Then she turned around, and ran towards her friends.  
  
Warriormon watched her go, and muttered, "The digidestined have so much expected of them. I hope they'll make it..."  
  
WILL THE OTHER DIGIDESTINED FIND OUT ABOUT V? AND WHAT DOES WARRIORMON MEAN BY `GUARDIAN`? FIND OUT ON THE NEXT DIGIMON: DIGITAL MONSTERS!  
  
Author's note: You know what? This took me the shortest time to write so far (2 days. #faints #), but I think it wasn't the best. In case you haven't noticed, I have set things to write about when a particular character is the main one (e.g. Steve is always doing something to do with leadership/torture. Drowning, for instance), and this one didn't really measure up to Violet. Hey, and if anyone can name every episode Violet was talking about WITHOUT looking at the episode list, they get a cyber cookie! #Pulls out HUGE box of cyber cookies #  
  
Random Person: There's a lot of cookies there, Lady. They can easily wait.  
  
#Eats cookie # Wanna bet?  
  
(Digimon = Toei's. Steve/Mike/Violet/Mary/John/Snowmon/Snowmon's digivolutions/Firepentmon/Firepentmon's digivolutions/Pearlmon/Pearlmon's digivolutions/Jewelmon/Jewelmon's digivolutions/Mythicmon/Mythicmon's digivolutions/all their crests = MINE)  
  
Lady Moon  
  
P.S. Alan, if you can hang on about THREE more episodes, you will see an ultimate. If you can't, you won't.  
  
LM 


	17. Digital Diner

Digital Diner  
  
  
  
Mary saw a barbecue with steaming sausages and then a guy from Baywatch handed her a burger with tomato ketchup all over it. She was about to bite into it when he leant towards her. She did the same to him; their lips were getting closer...  
  
"HELLO, THIS IS YOUR WAKEUP CALL!" Violet yelled in her friend's ear. Mary jumped, and found herself next to a river, still in the Digiworld.  
  
She sighed and rolled over. She was just drifting off to sleep again when Snowmon splashed her `by accident` as he got out of the river. She shook her head angrily. Snowmon grinned, "Whoops."  
  
She growled and swung one arm at him. He dodged easily and scampered off to where Steve was having an argument with Mike.  
  
Mary growled some more, then stopped when she realised Violet was pretending to film her. The sunlight glinted off the hilt of her sword, as she announced, "The rare Mary Tiger can be found in either the area next to a TV showing Baywatch or attacking a poor, defenceless Digimon."  
  
Mary wasn't sure what she was going to do, but it didn't matter, as the sounds of Steve and Mike's argument reached their ears. It started with Steve yelling, "To the left's where Mythicmon saw it! We have to investigate!"  
  
"Hold it, we still need to find two crests. That isn't a walk in the park!" Mike pointed out.  
  
"You're just scared!"  
  
"I'm not!"  
  
"You are!"  
  
"Are not!"  
  
"Are to!"  
  
"Are not!"  
  
Something inside Steve snapped. He flung himself at Mike, who joined in eagerly. Soon they were punching each other with all the strength they had. John seemed to be pretending not to be there.  
  
Pearlmon walked over to him, "What happened?"  
  
He looked at her sheepishly, "I asked where we were going to go today, and they said different things at the same time. Now they're arguing about whether we go in the direction Mythicmon saw the shadow, or whether we try and find the last crests."  
  
Violet suddenly gave an evil grin. She leant towards Mary; "How about we set off without them?"  
  
"Where?" Mary asked.  
  
"I say we try and find the crests, but we might as well proceed after the shadow. It might lead us to them."  
  
"Right."  
  
They both did a mock-tiptoeing motion over to the edge of the camp, then they ran off. It took Steve and Mike a full five minutes to realise they'd gone. This was their fastest time yet.  
  
Immediately Steve turned to John, "John, can you use your dot program to find them?"  
  
John typed away, then he reported, "Two blue dots, two green dots, one black dot."  
  
"Black? Oh, this is just perfect!" Mike said sarcastically.  
  
John typed some more, "It's a Digimon working for an evil Digimon. And the girls are in serious trouble..."  
  
**************************************************************************** *  
  
"What the heck is that?" Mary screamed.  
  
The object of her confusion was a Digimon. It looked like a HUGE red-and- white spider, with large fangs, and some kind of circular object on its back. There were two horns jutting out of opposite ends of its head, and its eight eyes were all red, and then white, then red, then white...  
  
The two Digimon were not happy bunnies (actually, they weren't even bunnies). Jewelmon filled the two girls in on who the overgrown spider was; "She's Arachnidmon. She wraps her opponents up in her Energy Web, and then she drains them of all their energy. And if that doesn't work, there's always the poisonous version!"  
  
Violet held up her digivice, "Show time!"  
  
"Pearlmon digivolve to Flakemon!"  
  
"Jewelmon digivolve Diamondmon!"  
  
Arachnidmon smiled. The circular object glowed, and then she fired a net from it, "Energy Net!"  
  
The net fell on Flakemon. The snake Digimon lashed out at it, but her actions gradually grew weaker, until they stopped altogether. Then she flashed and Pearlmon was lying there.  
  
The same thing happened to Diamondmon before you could say `Diamond Strike`. The two rookies both lay there, exhausted. Violet frowned. She leant over to Mary, "Mary, things may get crazy. Don't be surprised if they do."  
  
Violet drew the sword Warriormon had given her and rushed at Arachnidmon. The Digimon knocked her back, but not before the girl slashed across the net firer. It didn't stop the nets being fired, but it disabled the energy sucking and poisonous parts.  
  
The angry Digimon suddenly fired a net at Mary. She wasn't expecting it, and the net covered her before she could run. Arachnidmon sauntered up to her. She took a step backwards, and then she rushed at the girl. As the Digimon's head collided with Mary, everything went black for her.  
  
**************************************************************************** *  
  
She came round on something soft. She felt underneath her and was surprised to feel a bed. She looked around. She was in a small room, with a single window and door. A Digimon was sitting next to her.  
  
It looked like a tabby cat, except its tail was twice the length of its body. A pair of purple wings erupted from its back, and a red mask covered the middle part of its face. It smiled at her, and Mary heard a voice inside her head, 'I'm Katmon, a psychic Digimon. My attack is Psychic Cat Eye, and I can move things by only using my mind.'  
  
Mary stared. Then someone yelled through the door, "Katmon, get moving! We've got our first customers!"  
  
'That's Stalliomon. He's quite nice, but he can get really mad. I'd best go and start cooking.'  
  
"`Cooking`?" Mary repeated. Katmon nodded. The girl continued, "This is a restaurant?" Another nod. Mary smiled, "Do you want some help cooking?"  
  
Katmon nodded frantically. Mary stretched and stood up. The Digimon smiled and flew towards the door, with the digidestined following.  
  
**************************************************************************** *  
  
Steve wasn't in a good mood. He was not happy about the fact that Mary was gone. He had had a good yell at Violet, who answered merely by saying `Lover Boy`. That had shut him up.  
  
No one wanted to try to start a conversation with Violet, as she looked ready to rip someone's head off. She walked at the back of the group, mumbling to herself.  
  
Mike stretched, "Steve, I still don't understand why you're so bothered about this. Violet disappears, you say that we should look for her, but you're calm. Mary disappears; it's a red alert! You're acting like some kind of lovesick general!"  
  
"Stop calling me that," Steve grumbled. Mike was about to answer back, when John stopped and sniffed.  
  
"Am I the only one who can smell food?" he asked. Mike sniffed and shook his head.  
  
Steve stuck his hands in his pockets, "Why don't we check it out? It's better than just walking around in circles."  
  
Since John seemed to know which direction the smell was coming from, he led the way. They found that they ended up walking on a rough path, which meant they were heading somewhere that got a lot of visitors.  
  
Eventually, the trees gave way to an open space. And there, in the centre of it.They stopped and rubbed their eyes. What was a restaurant doing there?  
  
**************************************************************************** *  
  
Mary was definitely enjoying herself. Not only was she doing one of her favourite things (cooking), but she was also doing it with someone with an excellent sense of humour. Katmon kept up a steady stream of jokes to keep them entertained. She knew even more than Lizzie, a friend of hers. And Lizzie was the Queen of Jokes. Especially bad ones.  
  
**************************************************************************** *  
  
Mythicmon peeked over the Western-style doors, and saw a large room with tables and chairs arranged all around it. It was empty, except for a single Gazimon, who was just leaving. A counter was at the far end of the room, and a large, black stallion with a star on its forehead and front legs stood behind it.  
  
The Digimon flapped back to the digidestined, "Looks OK. There's not a lot of Digimon in there, so there probably won't be a fight."  
  
Steve went first, and he cautiously pushed open one of the doors. The stallion glanced up, and then he turned around, "Hey, Katmon! We've got customers!"  
  
The cat Digimon flew through a door that was behind the counter, looked at the digidestined, then perched on the counter to pick up some menus. The stallion sighed, "Katmon, I'm seriously thinking of getting a new waiter."  
  
'Alright, I can take a hint, O impatient one,' Katmon retorted. Violet smirked, and the cat Digimon winked at her. She (Katmon) recognised someone who liked a good joke when she saw one.  
  
A few minutes later, they were sitting around two tables (digidestined round one, Digimon round the other). Katmon had asked what they wanted, and they had all asked for things like meat, or omelette, except for Violet. She was having alphabet soup. This was strange, seeing as she wasn't a very big fan of it. Still, an order was an order.  
  
**************************************************************************** *  
  
Mary could hardly believe it when she heard that her friends were in the restaurant. However, the stallion (whom Katmon called `Stalliomon`) had said that she needed to stay in the kitchen. It had immediately struck her what an odd thing that was to say. Why didn't he want her to see her friends?  
  
When Katmon gave her the orders, he started straight away, hoping that the cooking would make her forget the strangeness of those words. Suddenly she couldn't contain her curiosity any longer, and asked Katmon, "Why doesn't Stalliomon want me to s...Whoops!"  
  
This last part was uttered as she accidentally spilt some of the alphabet soup on the floor. Katmon started laughing, but Mary was staring at it in a very strange way. She'd suddenly had an idea. She knew why Violet had ordered that particular type of soup.  
  
Carefully, she arranged the letters in the bowl to say `Hey LM. NS here.` Of course, she had to replace the full stops with starting a new line, but she knew it would work. She had placed the letters so that they looked as though they'd been placed there randomly, and she knew that only Violet would understand the message. She was using the abbreviations of the names they used on their website. LM meant Lady Moon, and NS meant Night Slayer.  
  
**************************************************************************** *  
  
Of course, V had told Violet that would work. The girl tried to look casual when the soup was served, but she immediately looked at the letters when Katmon used her psychic abilities to place the floating bowl in front of her. She smiled when she saw the letters.  
  
The next step of the plan was to find some way of getting to Mary. Violet considered the problem as she chewed the spaghetti letters, resisting the urge to even LOOK sick. Then V said, ~ 'When you get outside, pretend you need to `powder your nose`, then look for some kind of back door.' ~  
  
'Hey, that's a good idea!'  
  
~ 'Don't sound so surprised.' ~  
  
**************************************************************************** *  
  
Stalliomon smiled as the digidestined managed to find enough money in their pockets to pay the bill, but when they'd left, he let out a sigh. He watched them walk away through the window, "Good. Now to take the girl to see the master."  
  
**************************************************************************** *  
  
As soon as the digidestined were out of sight of the restaurant, Violet did an excellent impression of a girl who needed to go to the toilet. First, she started looking uncomfortable. Then she bit her lip, and crossed her legs. After that, the fidgeting began. Eventually, Steve said, "Violet, if you need to do, you know, THAT, you can just go and do it somewhere else."  
  
Violet put her hands in nun-position, "Thankyou, noble master. Sister Violet is honoured to be guided by your wisdom and compassion." Then she ran away, to avoid his playful slap.  
  
As soon as V said no one could see her, Violet turned around and headed towards the restaurant. She ended up on the borders of the small garden at the back. Carefully, she edged her way towards the door, then whispered, "Hey, Mary! Hello?"  
  
****************************************************************************  
  
Mary was just washing up when she heard Violet. Or rather, she AND Katmon heard it. The Digimon looked up, 'What was that?'  
  
Mary suddenly remembered a cartoon picture that Lizzie had once drawn, trying to prove that she could draw just as well as her. It had shown Mary with one hand behind her head, with a Mega sweatdrop, as they called the ones that appeared on TV. She imagined that she probably looked like that picture right then.  
  
"I...I didn't hear anything. You...must be...mistaken. Yeah, mistaken!" she stuttered. The cat Digimon looked at her with a look that clearly said `Yeah right. Come on, own up. `  
  
'It's one of your friends, isn't it?' Mary jumped. How did she know? Katmon smiled, 'Don't worry. I won't tell Stalliomon. In fact, the sooner you get out of here the better.'  
  
Mary stared, "Why?"  
  
'Stalliomon's going to hand you over to Switchmon.'  
  
"Who?"  
  
'The new evil. But I'll tell you more about him some other time. Right now, I have to get you to your friends.' The Digimon rose and silently flapped to the window. She had a silent conversation with someone (well, silent on HER end), then she returned to Mary, 'Come on. Violet's waiting.'  
  
**************************************************************************** *  
  
Snowmon sighed, "Does it usually take one of you humans this long to go to the toilet?"  
  
Steve grinned, "Depends on who the human is. If it's my sister, then it's a lot easier to just find another toilet."  
  
Snowmon looked up at him; "You have a sister?"  
  
"Yeah. Her name's Hannah. I've never mentioned her because she lives with my Mum, up in Edinburgh."  
  
"Oh yeah. I forgot your parents were divorced."  
  
"It's no big deal. Really."  
  
**************************************************************************** *  
  
Back at the restaurant, the two girls and one Digimon were just leaving when a voice behind them declared, "Where do you think you're going?"  
  
They turned around, and saw Stalliomon glaring at them. Violet muttered something, and Mary hissed, "Violet! Language!"  
  
Violet frowned at her, then turned to Katmon; "Just who is that?"  
  
'Stalliomon: A stallion Digimon who attacks with his Stallion Star. He is extremely loyal, and will serve his master willingly.'  
  
"Good to see you've been paying attention, Katmon. But now, not only will I deliver two digidestined to Switchmon, but a traitor as well!" The Digimon chuckled.  
  
Violet grabbed Mary, "We haven't got our Digimon! How are we meant to beat this guy without them?"  
  
'I'll take care of this piece of digi-filth,' Katmon smiled. She sprang at Stalliomon, 'Psychic Cat Eye!'  
  
Her eyes glowed, and then two beams of purple light shot straight out of them at Stalliomon. Or rather, where Stalliomon had been, before he galloped out of the way. He struck the ground with one hoof, "Stallion Star!"  
  
The star on his forehead glowed, and then a beam of yellow light shot from it. Katmon only just got out of the way.  
  
Suddenly, Mary noticed Violet looked as though she was straining herself, trying to do something she couldn't. She (Mary) turned to her, "What's the matter?"  
  
Violet looked up, and looked frightened, "Mary, I can't digimorph! It's been too long since there was a full moon!"  
  
Mary's eyes widened. Then a voice `said`, 'Inside the restaurant! Stalliomon's hidden your crest there, Mary!'  
  
Mary looked at the cat Digimon, "My what?"  
  
'Your crest! For heaven's sake, get moving!'  
  
Violet grabbed her, "Come on! Let's go!"  
  
The two girls rushed into the building. Katmon began firing blast after blast from her eyes, to distract Stalliomon. She thought to herself, 'Hope they find it before he gets them!'  
  
**************************************************************************** *  
  
Mary sighed, "How are we supposed to find it! We don't even know where to look!"  
  
Violet rubbed her forehead, "Let's see. It's not here, or else you would have found it. I didn't see anything like the picture on the back of your digivice in the other room, so it must be upstairs!"  
  
She pulled open the door that led to a set of stairs, and thundered up. As she followed, Mary thought, 'How did Violet know that there would be stairs behind that particular door?'  
  
As they stumbled into the room, they heard Katmon scream. Violet turned to Mary, "We don't have much time. We need to find it as fast as possible!"  
  
Five minutes later, they collapsed on the bed. They hadn't found anything useful, except for a pocket-knife with various attachments. However, as Mary threw herself down, her tag started glowing. Suddenly, a thought occurred to her. She looked under the bed, and saw something under it. As she pulled it out, it became consumed with a flesh-pink light. The light shot at her tag, and when it faded, her crest was firmly fixed inside.  
  
Violet peeked over her shoulder at the object the crest had come from, and grinned, "A crest on a plate. How likely was that?"  
  
Just then, a light from Mary's crest shot out of the window. It travelled down, until it hit Katmon. The Digimon could feel strength surging up in her, and then she yelled, 'Katmon digivolve to IronKatmon!'  
  
She grew to three times her old size. Her mask expanded until it covered her whole face, and then it became an iron mask. Her entire body was encased in iron. Her wings were the size of an average grown man's legs, and shone with iron. A large missile launcher was mounted on her back.  
  
She growled, 'My name is IronKatmon. I can control anything with my mind, and my Psychic Missile is impossible to avoid.'  
  
Mary stared out of the window at her; "Did I do that?"  
  
Violet's mouth was the size of an average house, "I don't know how, but somehow you made her digivolve!"  
  
IronKatmon lowered her head, so that her missile launcher was pointing directly at Stalliomon, 'Psychic Missile!'  
  
A missile surrounded by purple light shot out. Stalliomon leapt to the side, but the missile turned in mid-air and hit him right in the face. There was a loud scream, and then he disintegrated. The two girls stared, and then IronKatmon flew up to their window, 'Want a lift?'  
  
They nodded, and Violet pushed the window open. She lifted Mary onto the Digimon, and then she got on herself. Their steed turned around and flew away from the building.  
  
**************************************************************************** *  
  
John rubbed his neck, "You know, I wouldn't be surprised if Violet's gone off to look for Mary."  
  
Steve nodded, "Yeah, I think so too. But she must know where she is, or else she would have taken Pearlmon."  
  
Mike suddenly clicked his fingers, "Now I get it. Mary must have been at the restaurant!"  
  
Firepentmon shook himself, "How do you know that?"  
  
"I remember that Violet took a look at how the letters in her soup were arranged. Mary must have put a message there!"  
  
'You're cleverer than you look,' a voice said behind him. He spun around and then his eyes widened. Standing there was a gigantic cat, covered in iron. Then a familiar laugh came from her back.  
  
"Don't open your eyes so wide, or else they'll get sore!" Violet advised, sliding down from the Digimon's back and then helping Mary off too.  
  
There was utter silence for a moment, then the girls' Digimon flung themselves at them. Violet fell against Mary, Mary fell against nothing, and they both ended up on the floor.  
  
Everyone started laughing, and then the cat-like Digimon said, 'I have to go now, but I have a feeling we'll see each other again some day.'  
  
She flew up and into the distance, with Mary shouting after her, "Bye, IronKatmon! And thanks!"  
  
WHY DID MARY'S CREST DIGIVOLVE KATMON? AND WILL THE OTHER'S FIND OUT ABOUT V? FIND OUT ON THE NEXT DIGIMON: DIGITAL MONSTERS!  
  
Author's Note: Yes, I know, Violet DID NOT mention digimorphing until she tried to. I'd completely forgotten about it. Oh, and you SHALL see more of their crests digivolving Digimon other than their own. But I won't tell you which ones. MWAH HAH HAH HAH HAH! Oh wait... #realises what she just said # OK, I lied. There's an Ultimate digivolving in this episode. Sorry Alan. #Looks shamefaced # SORRY!!!!!! 


	18. Emerald Danger

Emerald Danger  
  
  
  
"Behind us: Trees. Before us: Rock City. Beyond that: Mighty Big Hill. WHEN IS OUR LIFE GOING TO GET ANY BETTER?" Violet screamed at no one in particular.  
  
Mary was the only one who plugged her ears in time. The rest of them were half-deafened by the scream. Steve seriously considered slapping her several times. He lifted his hand slightly, but Snowmon muttered, "Don't Steve. It's not worth the effort."  
  
They continued forwards, towards, as Violet put it, Rock City. Actually, it was a bunch of rocks that were various sizes, with a rough path running between them, but Rock City was a reasonable description. The group trudged along, each one of them thinking their separate thoughts.  
  
*************************************************************************  
  
The thing watched them and gave a slight chuckle. It sounded like a cross between a mud-monster's and a series of clicks. Those digidestined were so foolish. It was only luck that had got them this far in the first place. Luck, and the stupidity of the Digimon they had already faced. Well, this time it was going to be different.  
  
He considered his plan: to pretend to be one of the group, then destroy them in their sleep. It lacked challenge, but then they would be out of his data forever. Another chuckle emerged, slowly becoming a cruel, evil laugh.  
  
************************************************************************  
  
Mary firmly sat down next to a rock that gave some shade, "I'm not taking another step. I'm too tired." As if to prove her point, she stifled a yawn.  
  
Violet smirked, "Lazybones. Come on, it's not THAT far to the end."  
  
"Yes it is."  
  
"No it isn't."  
  
"Yes it is."  
  
"No it isn't."  
  
"Yes it is."  
  
"Yes it is."  
  
"No it isn't." Suddenly Mary clapped a hand over her mouth.  
  
Violet pulled her to her feet, "There, you've said it yourself. Now, onward, woman!"  
  
The shorthaired girl dragged her friend past the boys, and carried on pulling her until they suddenly disappeared behind a large rock. Steve grasped the straps of his rucksack, "Come on, we'd best catch up with them."  
  
The three boys sprinted after them, Mike holding Firepentmon. When they caught up with the girls, they were at the end of `Rock City`. Violet was muttering something to Mary, and the two of them kept laughing. Steve cleared his throat, "What's so funny?"  
  
The two of them looked up guiltily. Violet gave a nervous grin, "Oh, nothing. Just...discussing the differences between Seasons 1 and 2, that's all."  
  
Mike looked at them with a look that clearly said `Yeah, I really believe you`. However, before he could say anything, John pointed to the top of the hill.  
  
"Am I the only one who can see something up there?" he asked. They all looked up. The sunlight glinted off something silvery, with purple above it. Streaks of gold passed around the purple.  
  
Mike squinted, "Wish I had some binoculars."  
  
Steve shielded his eyes, trying to see better, "Or a telescope."  
  
"You'd burn your eyes."  
  
"No you wouldn't. You would just wait for night, then have a look."  
  
"Only you would think of something as stupid as that."  
  
"And what's that meant to mean?"  
  
By now, the two of them were glaring at each other, fists raised. Violet was about to turn on her see-into-your-soul-look, when Mary tapped her shoulder. She leant over and whispered, "Let me try. Please?"  
  
Violet gave her a strange look, "You think you can stop them?"  
  
"Give me a chance." Violet nodded an `OK`, and Mary gave a loud sigh and said, as loudly as she could, "You'd think they would have learned to keep their fists down when talking to each other, wouldn't you?"  
  
Violet blinked, then she grinned and joined with an equally loud voice, "Yes, you would. I guess they're just babies at heart."  
  
Mary suddenly switched to a granny's voice, "Oh, yes, dearie. I remember when all Englishmen got along like old friends."  
  
By then, Steve and Mike had stopped glaring and were staring at the two girls. Mary turned to them and shook a finger at them, still using the granny voice, "Now boys, let bygones be bygones, or else you'll never grow into charming young gentlemen."  
  
Their mouths were hanging open. They never knew Mary could do granny impressions! Violet and John both had hands over their mouths, and stifled laughs came from them.  
  
Five minutes later, no one was laughing. They needed to save all their energy for what they were doing: Climbing up the hill. The huge hill. The gigantic hill. The absolutely colossal hill.  
  
"Did you know that this is the first hill I've ever seen that's huge, gigantic and colossal all at the same time?" Violet managed to gasp. Mary just mimed that the girl needed to save her breath.  
  
They were halfway up when they stopped for a rest. Mary and Violet lay next to each other, saying something like, "Emperors are really important, of COURSE they'd be-" John firmly positioned his hands over his ears. He didn't like the sound of where THAT conversation was going.  
  
Snowmon rammed Steve to one end of the group, and Firepentmon shoved Mike to the other. Now was not the time for arguments.  
  
They were about to start upwards again, when they heard a low growl. Violet muttered, "Oh, goody. Another Digimon wants to start a fight. One of these days, I'm going to snap and start firing martial art moves in all directions."  
  
"Make sure we're hiding behind a rock first," Mary replied.  
  
Suddenly, part of the grass leapt up at John and knocked him down. Once it stopped moving they could see that it wasn't part of the grass, but a Digimon. Its body was the same shape as Sapphiremon and Crystalmon's, except its tail ended in a point with two curved lines coming out of it. Its ears curved around in a perfect circle and a khaki tongue flicked in and out of its mouth. Its entire body was emerald, which was why it had blended in.  
  
John was firmly pinned to the ground, and the Digimon flicked its tongue at him. Its eyes scanned him, and it was hard not to look at them. It snarled, "Here you are. I was looking for you."  
  
Mythicmon flew up behind him, "Mythical Spike!"  
  
The emerald Digimon cried out in pain as the attack hit it, but then it smirked and turned around, "Emerald Earth!"  
  
It blew as hard as he could, and a mass of earth mixed with emeralds shot out. It struck Mythicmon and the bird crashed into the ground.  
  
John, being a sensible young boy, had decided to get as far away from the Digimon as he could. When it had realised he had gone, it snarled, "You may be able to run, but you can't hide. I am Emeraldmon, a fully trained hunter. Once I have sighted my prey, I shoot them down with my Emerald Earth, and none have ever escaped me."  
  
Steve shook his head; "This gets better and better."  
  
Emeraldmon turned around to face John, "And now, let's be going." John stepped away, and his digivice began to glow.  
  
"Mythicmon digivolve to Phoenixomon!"  
  
The giant bird Digimon swooped down, and Emeraldmon only just ducked in time. He leapt at John, pinned him to the ground again, and said, calmly, "Attack and your friend says bye-bye."  
  
Phoenixomon hovered, not knowing what to do. He didn't want John to die, but if he didn't do something, his digidestined was going to be kidnapped!  
  
Suddenly, something crashed into Emeraldmon, knocking him off John. The thing ended up rolling slightly down the hill with the Digimon, but they crashed into an appropriately placed rock.  
  
Snowmon was about to say something to Steve when he realised his digidestined wasn't there. He ran to where he could see the rock, and saw Emeraldmon and Steve glaring at each other. Emeraldmon bared his teeth and sprang at the boy, but his target ducked and the Digimon carried on going. When he hit the ground, he suddenly vanished.  
  
Steve stood up and peered at the place where the Digimon had been, but he couldn't see anything. Then Emeraldmon sprang out of the grass beside him and knocked him back against the rock. Phoenixomon swooped down, "Phoenix Fire!"  
  
"Emerald Earth!"  
  
Mary was staring at them, and then she heard the sound of typing and turned around. John was typing feverishly on his laptop, and didn't seemed to notice when Mary asked what he was doing.  
  
She peeked over his shoulder and saw a picture of the hill. As she watched, a purple light began to emerge from the top of it and form itself into the crest of Knowledge.  
  
Mary pointed at it, "What in the world...I mean, what in the Digiworld is that?"  
  
He finally noticed her, "I've been setting up a program that can help us find our crests, only it took a longer time that I thought. Anyway, according to this, my crest is at the top of this hill."  
  
"In case you haven't noticed, we are fighting a Digimon intent on capturing you. Now, how are you supposed to go up there and fetch your crest WITHOUT being caught, hmm?" Violet asked, coming up behind them.  
  
"Our Digimon can distract him, isn't it obvious?"  
  
"To you it is, but you haven't seen the way he's fighting. He's positioned himself so that he's always facing you," Violet replied, looking over at the Digimon.  
  
"Then we just have to get a Digimon to get us up to the top as fast as possible."  
  
Mary knelt next to him, "While you were typing away, our Digimon all digivolved to champions. They're fighting him with all their strength, and they're barely holding him back. Tigermon isn't helping much either."  
  
John looked up at Violet, and raised an eyebrow. She sighed, "OK, OK, I get the picture."  
  
She placed one hand over her digivice, "Violet digimorph to Moondramon!"  
  
John folded up his computer and climbed on. Emeraldmon saw them, and he was about to leap when Moondramon soared into the sky, away from him.  
  
She flew just above the treetops, saving her energy in case she was needed. As they neared the top, the purple light that they had seen from the bottom began to grow brighter and brighter.  
  
As they reached the top, the light washed over them, turning Moondramon's scales purple. She smiled as she swooped in to land, "Thankyou for choosing Dragon Airways for all your travel needs. We hope to see you again. Goodbye now, goodbye, goodbye now."  
  
John slid off her back, and stepped towards the centre of the light. He could see some kind of square stone, with a point at the top, covered in moss and strange writing. Rays of golden light burst from the top, surrounding the purple light. The boy walked as close as he dared. In the centre of the light, he could just about see the crest of Knowledge. He removed his tag and held it out.  
  
All the purple light formed a sort of sphere around the crest. Then it rushed towards the tag and enveloped it. For a moment, it looked as though John was shooting out purple light from his hand. Then it faded, as did the gold. Inside his tag was the crest of Knowledge.  
  
There was silence. Then a beam of purple light shot out of the crest and down the hill. Moondramon picked him up by the T-shirt as gently as she could, put him on her back and flew down.  
  
The light carried on down. Moondramon flapped her wings as hard as she could, and they raced down the hill. When the light reached the battle, it sped towards Emeraldmon and went straight through him. He screamed, and then he dissolved.  
  
Moondramon landed, and John slid off. She shook herself, and then she shrank back down to an exhausted Violet. The girl panted, "I have got to stop doing that!"  
  
Everyone's attention was focused on somewhere that wasn't the ground. No one saw the red shape streaking through the foliage, until it was too late. Suddenly, Snowmon let out a yelp as something tugged him away from the digidestined. A moment later, he was being dragged down the hill at a terrific speed.  
  
He screamed, "STEVE!" Immediately the thing stuck a ruby-red hand over his mouth. Before it could fall, it leapt onto a waiting dragon Digimon. It sprang into the air, and the sun reflected off its red and gold scales.  
  
Steve stood there, helpless. It had happened so fast, he hadn't done anything. Then he ran to where the dragon had been and yelled, "SNOWMON!"  
  
WHY HAS THE DIGIMON KIDNAPPED SNOWMON? AND WILL THE DIGIDESTINED BE ABLE TO RESCUE HIM? FIND OUT ON THE NEXT DIGIMON: DIGITAL MONSTERS!  
  
Author's Note: MWAH HAH HAH HAH HAH! That has to be one of my best cliff- hangers EVER! And as for Mary and Violet's discussion... Er, I don't think people with relatively clean minds would want to know. Also, can I say that the kidnapper WAS going to get onto an Icedramon, but I've decided that he's a fire-type. A fire-type on an ice-type. Ouch.  
  
DIGIMON DOESN'T BELONG TO ME!!!!! I KEEP SAYING THIS BUT APPARENTLY I MUST DO IT AGAIN!!! THE DAY IT DOES BELONG TO ME HUMANS WILL ALL DIE AT EXACTLY THE SAME TIME AND THE ANTS WILL TAKE OVER!!!!! #Pause# That's a very disturbing mental image...  
  
P.S. Alan, Mary DOESN'T have two partners now. That's part of the whole cliff-hanger! And next episode sees the first of their Digimon going to Ultimate, so just review and I'll see what I can do to bring it out as soon as possible! THAT GOES FOR EVERYONE ELSE TOO!!!! 


	19. Leading to Victory

Leading to Victory  
  
  
  
Steve stared at the ground in front of him. Mary was waving a hand in front of his face, but he wasn't responding. He just kept staring. The words echoed in his mind: Gone...He's gone...  
  
Mary looked at Violet. She was typing away at her laptop, as was John. Each of them had taken up a particular task to do, as there were plenty of problems to solve. John was trying to track down Snowmon, whilst also keeping an eye out for the black dot that would represent their enemy, whilst Violet was trying to find out why Steve wasn't responding to anything.  
  
Violet leant back and stretched, "Hey, Mary, I think I've found something."  
  
Mary looked over the other girl's shoulder to see what looked like a Word document. She raised an eyebrow, "How does THAT help us?"  
  
"Remember when our class split into pairs to research different things that happened to humans?"  
  
Mary shuddered, "PLEASE don't remind me. I ended up with James and a project about making BABIES. That was one experience I'd rather forget."  
  
Violet grinned. James (nicknamed `Pervy JimJams`) had an extremely obvious crush on Mary and a passion for any Digimon episodes where there were any hints about love. He was featured in every nightmare of Mary's. Violet turned back to the screen, "Well, I wasn't exactly thrilled to end up with Louise, but that's not the point. We were researching shock, and our project describes the same things that Blondie over there is doing."  
  
"So it's just shock?"  
  
"Wait a second, I just need to find all the different bits." Violet paused, "OK, I've done it."  
  
"And?" Mary leaned closer.  
  
"Back off a bit and I'll tell you. It says that `When a person loses something extremely close to them very suddenly, such as a lover or friend, they begin to feel extremely depressed. They are cut off from the outside world, and begin to simply stare at a certain thing. `"  
  
"Like Steve?"  
  
"Yep. All we can do is try to help him find Snowmon."  
  
Mary sighed as she looked over at the boy. Mike had started playing a song that he had first heard on `Asterix Conquers America` on his flute. It was from the part when all the red Indians, Asterix, Obelix, and Getafix were dancing around the fire. It was called `We are One People`. As he reached the end, he stopped and looked at Steve. Mary smiled, "Talk about secret friendship!"  
  
Violet grinned, "I just hope they can stop fighting WITHOUT the use of talking trees and DCs."  
  
"Amen."  
  
John looked at them, "D whats?"  
  
Mary shook her head, "It's our nickname for that weird black cave Matt gets stuck in near the end Season 1."  
  
John looked down again, "Oh, right. By the way, I just picked up some kind of digital disturbance."  
  
Violet blinked, "Digital WHAT?"  
  
"Digital disturbance. Something is gathering a great amount of digital energy, and is therefore causing various things to warp. In fact, there seems to be some kind of shockwave spreading across the area. It should reach us about...now."  
  
Something invisible seemed to rush across the group, sending everyone and everything flying. The very air seemed to ripple, and the trees let out a loud groaning, as if something was trying to uproot them.  
  
Eventually it disappeared. Violet slid down the tree trunk she had grabbed, Mary landed on top of Steve, and Mike and John ended up in a living ball. Pearlmon was clinging tightly to Violet's arm, Firepentmon had curled around a strong branch, and Mythicmon and Jewelmon flew to their separate digidestined.  
  
Violet bit her lip, "Pearlmon, are you aware that your claws hurt?"  
  
Her Digimon loosened her grip slightly, "Sorry. I just grabbed the closest thing, and that was your arm."  
  
Violet gently removed the Digimon, placed her on the floor, and then began rubbing her arm where Pearlmon had been. Mary had leapt off Steve as though he was on fire, and was proceeding to turn a very impressive shade of red. Mike and John were trying to disentangle themselves, but weren't having much luck.  
  
Mike called, "John, move your left leg."  
  
John tried, "Can't. It's caught in something."  
  
Like a good little girl, Violet walked over to help. She looked, and then she started laughing, "John...your leg's caught in...Mike's rucksack strap and...Mike's is in...your rucksack, on... top of your... computer!"  
  
She continued laughing as she freed John's leg, and removed Mike's from it's temporary home. Mary was giggling hysterically and even Steve was grinning. Then his smile faded as a very familiar voice called, "Steve! Where are you? Help!"  
  
He spun around. The voice was coming from the same place that the `digital disturbance` had come from (except that he didn't know that). Without waiting for the others, he took off through the trees with a speed that was seldom seen outside the podrace scene in Star Wars- Episode 1: The Phantom Menace. Mike was soon hot on his tail, with the girls and John panting behind him.  
  
As they burst into a clearing, they were confronting by a red Digimon who looked like a relation of Emeraldmon and co. His claws were sharp, and his ears were like miniature dragon wings. His tail had three spikes at the end, and a fire seemed to move and swirl in his eyes. At the moment, his eyes were fixed on a familiar Digimon. Steve stepped forwards, "Snowmon!"  
  
The red Digimon looked up, and a tongue like a snake's flicked out and in, "Do you seriously think you can save him? None have escaped me, Rubymon, the last of the Jewel Brothers. My Ruby Lava can eliminate enemies easily, and I am a loyal servant of Switchmon."  
  
John blinked, "Who?" By way of answering, Rubymon growled threateningly. The boy gulped, and said, in a small voice, "Just asking, you don't have to answer."  
  
Rubymon smiled, and then he turned towards Steve, "Ruby Lava!"  
  
He spurted out a column of lava, with rubies glittering inside it. Mike leapt forwards and shoved his friend out of the way just in time. Rubymon frowned and tried again.  
  
"Firepentmon digivolve to Serpentmon!"  
  
The fire-snake Digimon whipped his tail out, curled it around the two boys, and brought them away from the lava. Then he grabbed Snowmon in the same way and deposited him by Steve. However, he squeezed a bit too hard, and Snowmon gave a short yelp. Then, something happened. His outline started flickering, and for a moment Serpentmon was clutching something black. A second later, Snowmon was back. Steve was the only one who had noticed.  
  
Serpentmon wound himself around Rubymon, but the Digimon managed to slip out before his captor could begin to squeeze. He glared at the digidestined, but he knew that he was outnumbered. With a growl, he turned around and sped off, into the forest.  
  
***********************************************************************  
  
Switchmon chuckled to himself. These digidestined were so foolish. Why, he'd even gone back to his true form for a second, but none of them had noticed.  
  
The Steve boy, however, was a different story. He would have to be careful what he said to him. The boy knew the Digimon he was impersonating better than any of them. But Switchmon was confident that he could deal with him, if he needed to.  
  
***********************************************************************  
  
What Switchmon didn't know was that it was too late for him. Steve had already noticed that there was something different about his Digimon. For starters, he hadn't digivolved when he was in trouble. Second, there was that black thing he had seen. He decided to give him one last test, though, just to make sure.  
  
He stood up, "Hey, Snowmon, you want to help me catch some fish?"  
  
His Digimon stood up, "OK. I'll make sure none of them get away."  
  
"You're mad." Steve grinned. As they walked to the river, he realised something. The two of them had something in common. Each of them was hiding something important.  
  
Steve looked into the water. Plenty of fish there. He looked across at Snowmon. The Digimon was staring into the water, and there was a look of fear on his face. Steve smiled and asked, as innocently as he could, "What's wrong?"  
  
Snowmon's head shot up. His mouth moved, but no sound came out. Steve raised his eyebrows. Then a voice behind him said, "What's taking you guys so long?"  
  
He spun around, expecting to see Violet, but instead it was Mary. He stood up, "I think it's a bit too late to start fishing. It always takes AGES for Snowmon to catch enough, anyway."  
  
He mentally crossed his fingers. He didn't want to tell the others anything before he knew for sure. 'But what if I never know for sure? I've just got to risk it. If I don't, he could attack the orders. I'm meant to be the leader. I've got to take the responsibility.' As he walked back to the camp, he didn't notice his crest begin to glow.  
  
***********************************************************************  
  
Switchmon liked this body. It was well adapted for its environment. It was a pity that he couldn't swim. If he did, he'd immediately turn back into his true form. He sighed. As long as none of them either pushed him into water, or caused him enough pain for him to change back, he would be fine.  
  
***********************************************************************  
  
Violet swiftly cut through several fruit stalks with her sword. They fell from their tree, and clattered onto the ground. She looked up at Steve, "Are you going to sit down, or are you going to lean against that tree all night?"  
  
Steve looked away from the stars he'd been watching, and looked around for Snowmon. Ah, there he was, under that tree. He walked over and then, without warning, firmly sat down on his Digimon. Mary leapt up, "Are you crazy?"  
  
However, before he could answer, a black light surrounded Snowmon. He got off the Digimon, and the digidestined stared as the ball of black light rose into the air. Then the light faded, and Snowmon was gone. In his place was a large, black bat. Four red spikes stuck out from its head, one on the left, one on the right, one on the top left, the last on the top right. A gold jagged line came down its face, before splitting in two and ending at each of the eyes. Another one started on either of its wing, joined up whilst going down its body, then splitting again to get to each of the feet.  
  
The bat thing frowned, "I can't believe you did that to your friend."  
  
Steve glared back, "I did it because I knew that you weren't Snowmon. If you were, you'd have been in and out of that river in a second. I know you're not him, so where is he?"  
  
"Do you know who I am?"  
  
"I've got a good guess."  
  
"Well, I'll tell you anyway. I am Switchmon, the commander of Trojan. My Bat Lightning may seem weak, but my true power lies in my ability to switch my shape into any I like."  
  
Switchmon's gaze swept over the group. John, typing away. Mary, looking ready to scream. Violet, with one hand over Mary's mouth. Mike, clutching his digivice in one hand. And Steve...  
  
The Digimon jerked as he noticed the golden light coming from his crest. He mustn't let it get any brighter. He gave an evil smile, "I'll make you a deal. I'll give you your Digimon if you give me your crest."  
  
Steve raised a puzzled eyebrow, "My crest?"  
  
"You know, that necklace thing you're wearing?"  
  
The blonde looked down at it. Then his mouth fell open, "Hey, when did it start glowing?"  
  
"Who cares? Isn't your Digimon more important?"  
  
Steve narrowed his eyes, "How do I know that you'll hand over Snowmon?"  
  
Switchmon shrugged, which was a very impressive achievement. After all, he didn't seem to have any shoulders, "Really, don't you trust me? But if it satisfies you..." He turned around, "Rubymon, bring him out!"  
  
Steve frowned as he recognised the red Digimon. But it was holding a very familiar Digimon. His eyes widened, "Snowmon! What happened?"  
  
His Digimon was covered in bruises and cuts, one of them going through his left eye and touching his fin. He looked a mess. Switchmon smiled, "See, here's your Digimon. Now, are you going to give me your crest or not?"  
  
The rest of the group was stunned. They had no idea what they should do. After all, Steve had been the one who had led them. Now what should they do?  
  
Steve looked from his Digimon, to his crest, then back again, 'The crest isn't going to help without Snowmon, but if Switchmon gets it, we're done for. Snowmon or my crest?'  
  
He bit his lip, and then he looked up, "Alright. I'll swap."  
  
Violet's mouth fell open, "WHAT?"  
  
Switchmon gestured to Rubymon, "Give him his Digimon and get his crest."  
  
Steve held out his crest and Rubymon took it, before dumping Snowmon at Steve's feet. Then Switchmon laughed, "That was too easy! Now I can destroy you all in one go!"  
  
Steve picked up Snowmon and held him in his arms, "Snowmon, I'm sorry. Now we're all going to die because of me." The boy glanced up, "Switchmon, if you're going to destroy us, then kill me first. It's my fault, so just get it over with!"  
  
Suddenly, the crest in Rubymon hands erupted with gold light. He screamed in pain, and then he dropped it. Switchmon tried to get to it, but a sphere of gold surrounded it, protecting it. He roared in frustration.  
  
Then a beam of light shot from it and hit Snowmon. The Digimon opened his eyes, and felt his wounds heal, and his strength come back, "Snowmon digivolve to Icemon!"  
  
The ice beast sprang forward and knocked Switchmon away. Then, very gently, he picked the crest up by the string in his mouth and walked back to Steve. The boy reached up, and carefully took it from his Digimon's teeth.  
  
Switchmon swooped towards the Digimon, "Bat Lightning!"  
  
The golden lightning bolts on his body glowed, and real lightning shot from them. Without thinking, Steve stepped in front of his Digimon. He wouldn't let his friend die, even if it meant sacrificing himself. Then, his crest glowed the brightest gold yet, and then Icemon followed suit.  
  
"Icemon digivolve to Blizzardmon!"  
  
His body became a much deeper blue, and small ice-crystals covered him. White triangles lined his back, with the same blue in the centre of them. When they got to the tail, another row appeared on the other side, as well as on his fins. At the end of his tail, five spikes spread out like fingers. Two fins were on his back, and another one was on his head. In front of the fins on his back, a pair of white wings grew, with dark-and- light blue feathers in them. However, they looked much smoother than any wings that the digidestined had seen before.  
  
The Digimon bared his extremely white and scary teeth, "I am Blizzardmon, a Digimon who attacks with my Blizzard Triangle. If you think you can escape me underwater, guess again! My wings can fold along my back, and I am one of the most powerful swimmers in the Digiworld."  
  
Switchmon gulped, "Now, let's just calm down. There no need to get violent."  
  
Blizzardmon smiled, "Don't worry. I'll try not to make this too violent." The triangles all over his body began to glow, "Blizzard Triangle!"  
  
Ice shot from all over him. Switchmon screamed, "NO!" Then the ice hit him.  
  
Suddenly, a great wind, almost a hurricane, began to blow. The space around Switchmon began to swirl, and began to suck the closest things into it. "WHAT'S GOING ON?" Mary screamed.  
  
"SWITCHMON MUST HAVE STORED UP DIGITAL ENERGY INSIDE HIM EVERY TIME HE SWITCHED HIS SHAPE! NOW HE'S GONE, IT'S ALL COMING OUT AT ONCE! THIS PLACE CAN'T TAKE IT!" John shouted back.  
  
Rubymon was dragged, screaming, into the portal. Then Steve felt himself being sucked in too. Blizzardmon grabbed his T-shirt in his teeth, but it ripped, and the two of them disappeared into the opening. Then its outline wavered, and then it vanished.  
  
WHAT IS ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE PORTAL? AND WILL STEVE AND BLIZZARDMON EVER RETURN TO THE DIGIWORLD? FIND OUT ON THE NEXT DIGIMON: DIGITAL MONSTERS!  
  
Author's Note: Hmm...Interesting ending. Oh, and I'm not sure if that theory about shock is right. It's one of my `I'll-prove-I'm-smart` things. Ignore, unless you know a doctor and can ask him if that really happens. If it doesn't, I stand corrected. And also: Jewel Brothers? Proof that I have been thinking WAY too much.  
  
And there you have it! The first of their Digimon to go Ultimate! And guys, you're really going to have to wait soon for episodes, because there's only two more left that I've finished. Unless I finish the current one soon, and that'll only happen thanks to a blinkin' miracle...  
  
Lady Moon 


	20. Digimon Limbo

Digimon Limbo  
  
  
  
Steve slowly opened his eyes. He saw...nothing. He looked down...nothing. He was floating in nothingness. Next to him, he heard a weak male voice, "Oh great. I've always wanted to come to Digimon Limbo."  
  
He turned in mid-nothing. Floating next to him was a light-blue... THING. It had a tail not unlike a tadpole's, its four feet were webbed, and its round head had a fin on it. It smiled at him, "What, you seriously expected me to stay ultimate after all that? I'm Surfmon, Snowmon's in-training form. I surprise my enemies with my Surf Beam, but then it's best for me to swim away."  
  
What with all the nothingness and new forms and everything, Steve's brain soon started to hurt. He sighed as he reached up to rub it, "So, now what do we do? If I remember what my science teacher said when I was listening, Limbo's the end of everything."  
  
Surfmon nodded, "Yep."  
  
"So, how do you move around here?"  
  
"Er... Pass?"  
  
"Great."  
  
He leant backwards slightly, but ended up doing a somersault because there was nothing to lean against. He sighed again, as he thought, 'I wish I could go down. Then at least I could do SOMETHING other than floating.'  
  
No sooner had he finished the thought when he suddenly plummeted down. "YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!" he screamed. He thought, 'Great. I'm going to die because I am falling in a place where you can't. Wish I could stop to appreciate the irony in that.'  
  
Then he stopped. Surfmon called out, "Steve, what happened?"  
  
Steve considered this for a moment, "I was just thinking about going down and then I went down."  
  
"That means that if you want to go anywhere, you have to think about it."  
  
"Congratulations, Einstein. You have won NOTHING!"  
  
Surfmon dropped down next to him, "Quit the sarcasm. Look, we should see if we can still get to the Digiworld from here. Just think about going there."  
  
Moments later, they were standing on the ground, in between two mad Leopardmon. The cat Digimon sprang at each other, and...passed straight through Steve and Surfmon.  
  
Surfmon blinked, then smiled, "Well, makes sense. We're in Limbo, but it overlaps the Digiworld. So we can see what's happening, but no-one can see us."  
  
Steve looked up at the sky, "I don't know if that made me feel better or worse."  
  
"Well, this way we can see how the others are doing."  
  
The boy sighed, "OK, OK, I get the picture." 'This is going to be interesting...'  
  
***************************************************************************  
  
Violet traced a shape in the dirt at her feet. At first, it looked like a circle. Then she added four spikes, one at each `corner` (or curve, or whatever those bits are called on a circle), a small flame inside it, and finished off with a bar above the flame, with daggers hanging off each end.  
  
"Nice," Mary commented, kneeling next to her. Then she raised an eyebrow, "What exactly IS it?"  
  
Violet considered, "I don't actually know. It seems, whenever we stop, I get it stuck in my head, so I draw it."  
  
Inside her head, V chuckled. 'What?' Violet asked.  
  
~ 'It's not there because it's there. It's there to protect you.' ~  
  
'From what?'  
  
~ 'You'll find out soon enough.' ~  
  
***************************************************************************  
  
Steve was standing by a stream, looked at the digidestined. Surfmon sat next to him, "Steve, why aren't we moving?"  
  
He looked up, "Huh?"  
  
"We thought about being WITH the digidestined, but we're not. It's as if there's something that's pushing everything in Limbo away from them."  
  
"Well, we're on the ground now, so we might as well try walking."  
  
They started off, but when they were about a metre or so away from the digidestined, something seemed to shoot out and shove them back. "What the..." Steve started, but then he registered what was standing in front of him.  
  
It looked like Violet, except she had longer hair, was dressed completely in white, a pair of wings grew out of her back, and her hand held a staff. On her T-shirt was a silver picture of a circle with four spikes, a flame in the middle, and a bar with daggers hanging off each end above the flame. Her staff was white, with silver stripes going across it.  
  
She considered the two in front of her, then smiled, "Sorry. I didn't know who you were, so I just knocked you back."  
  
Surfmon was opening and shutting his mouth like a goldfish. Steve stuttered, "Wh...Who..."  
  
"Am I?" She supplied. Steve nodded, "Call me V. I do have a proper name, but I need to keep it a secret. If anything found out about me..." She drew a finger across her throat, making the sound of someone whose throat had been cut.  
  
Steve gulped, "Ouch." She nodded. Then something occurred to him, "Wait, what are you doing here anyway? I mean, don't you need to be elsewhere, terrifying someone else?"  
  
She glared at him, "If you value your life, you won't say that again."  
  
"No offence or anything, but what would you do to me?"  
  
In answer she started to spin her staff. It glowed brightly, and then it became a sword. She held it up, "Does that answer your question?"  
  
He nodded weakly. She smiled. Then he asked, "But what ARE you doing here?"  
  
"I can't go anywhere else."  
  
"Why not?"  
  
She turned around and pointed at Violet, "I have to stay where she is."  
  
Steve's eyes widened, "Violet? Why do you need to stay with her?"  
  
V pointed at the ground, "You'd best sit down. It's a long story." When they were both comfortably seated, she began, "I guess it starts with me being born. I was one of the first Digimon to be created. There was the worldly trio, as Digimon call us. There's the creator, the preserver, and the healer. I'm one of those. Then there's the four ruling dragon Digimon: Lightdramon, the protector of the light crests and ruler of light, Darkdramon, the protector of the dark crests and ruler of darkness, Timedramon, the ruler of time, and Univerdramon, the ruler of the universe.  
  
"After that came the Digimon rulers of Heaven and the Underworld: Metatramon and Reapermon. Then there were the ultimate evil guys: Apocalymon and EmperorDevimon. But the most powerful Digimon that were created were Godsermon and Satanmon.  
  
"More Digimon were created, some good, some evil, some neutral. Then Satanmon began to get out of control. He began to make too many evil Digimon. You can only have so much evil here, and soon EmperorDevimon and Apocalymon began to de-digivolve. That means go back to the previous level. However, Satanmon told them that their true powers were being suppressed. To release them, they needed more evil Digimon. Then their true powers would come. So they gladly sacrificed their lives in order to make the Dark Masters: MetalSeadramon, Puppetmon, Machinedramon, and Piedmon. You see, those two were made to keep the balance of good and evil. If the Dark Masters were destroyed, then there would be a gap left for them.  
  
"Naturally, Satanmon began to turn others to the dark side. Darkdramon was made as a counterpart for Lightdramon. You know, light and darkness. However, Satanmon convinced him that he was meant to be evil. Then he travelled to the Underworld and said the same thing to Reapermon. And, well, you get the idea. In a last effort, all the good Digimon (and some of the neutral) went head-to-head with the evil Digimon. We tried to convince the ones who had been converted to return to us, but they didn't listen. Then Satanmon put a curse on my two partners and me.  
  
"I can still hear him saying it. It went `May you reside only within the light crests. May you give them the glowing power that shall never triumph. And, when one of the holders of the crests comes to me, may you be separated. Let one of you be confined to the mind of a human, and be trapped there forever. This curse I lay upon you: May it never be broken until the creator, the preserver, and the destroyer walk once more.`  
  
"So we ended up in the crests, and Satanmon ended up the winner. So the others summoned the digidestined, and you know how it goes from there. Then, when Kari became evil, I ended up with Violet. I don't know why it was her, but that was how it went."  
  
There was a long silence after she had finished. Then Steve whispered, "Wow.... And all this time, she hasn't told ANYBODY?"  
  
V grinned, "Well, actually two people already know."  
  
Steve raised an eyebrow, "Who?"  
  
"Lizzie and Pearlmon."  
  
The eyebrow went down, and Steve rubbed his eyes, as they were starting to hurt, "OK, Pearlmon I understand, but LIZZIE?"  
  
V shrugged and gave him a small smile, "Why not? They're practically soul- mates," she narrowed her eyes, and stressed the last few words, "in the platonic sense."  
  
***************************************************************************  
  
Violet tried to get to sleep, but it just wasn't working. V seemed to be somewhere, chatting away, so Violet couldn't sleep. Eventually, the girl gave up and stood up.  
  
'Well, if I can't sleep, I might as well have a look around. V said that the Digiworld's beautiful at night.'  
  
She followed the stream they were resting by, passing through a small wood. Then she gasped as she came out of the trees and saw the most beautiful sight she'd ever seen. It was a huge waterfall, crashing down a cliff. In the moonlight, it was magic. Oh, there just aren't words to describe the beauty of it.  
  
***************************************************************************  
  
"Whoa," Steve whispered, "it's...I don't know...MAGIC."  
  
V smiled as Surfmon enjoyed the moisture in the air, "Welcome to Spiritual Falls. It's beautiful by day, and it's beautiful at night." Then her smile faded, and she frowned, "Hey, did you hear that?"  
  
The blonde raised an eyebrow, "Did we hear what?"  
  
V closed her eyes, thinking deeply. Then they snapped open, "Something's here in Limbo. It's trying to attack Violet's MIND. You know, plant some ideas in there, that sort of thing."  
  
"I thought Limbo was nothing."  
  
V smiled, then waved a hand around her, "If Limbo's nothing, how come we're here, and not in mid-nothing? Limbo is nothing PHYSICALLY, as in nothing exists or lives here. It's a mental world. I live in Violet's head, so I hang out here. Powerful magical Digimon, like Witchmon, can send Digimon here, but they can't make the Digimon LIVE here."  
  
Then her smile faded yet again. She could hear something in the water. Cautiously, she poked her staff in the running water. Then, she quickly jerked it back and something came out with it.  
  
As Digimon go, it wasn't very tall. But as Digimon go, it was LONG! It was a aquamarine, with a small frill across its neck, and a bluey-green helmet (the same colour as Mike's crest) covered the same part of its head that Serpentmon's did. It had twirled itself around V's staff, yet there was still some of it in the water. V narrowed her eyes. It did the same.  
  
Steve and Snowmon felt as though they didn't know something. Wait, correction, they KNEW that they didn't know something. Even if they did know what was going on, they wouldn't know something. So, let's stop going round in circles and get back to the story.  
  
Steve cleared his throat, "Er, V? Who is that?"  
  
"Serpensmon," V hissed, and Steve was almost knocked back by the sheer force of the hatred in her voice, "When Serpentmon was first created, a stray bit of his data was captured by Satanmon and turned into this water version. He attacks with Tsunami, a great wave launched from a rock varying in size. He has the ability to become only water, and you have to jab where he is for him to become solid against his will."  
  
Serpensmon looked at the three of them, as if considering their strength in a fight against him. When he had fully examined them, he began to shimmer. Then he became pure water, and splashed into the river.  
  
V lifted her staff, but Steve reached out and stopped her. When she stared at him, he looked coolly back, "V, if you carry on like that, you're going to be doing it for the rest of eternity." To match his look, he seemed to radiate some kind of cool calmness. He turned to his Digimon, who blinked when he noticed the authority in his partner's voice, "Surfmon, if you can digivolve, now would be a good time."  
  
The Digimon nodded, "Right." The familiar glow began to surround his body, "Surfmon digivolve to Snowmon!" The glowing light grew to Snowmon's size, and carried on going, "Snowmon digivolve to Icemon!" Icemon's glowing form splashed into the water, as he underwent his final changes, "Icemon digivolve to Blizzardmon!"  
  
The ice-beast leapt into the air, wings outstretched. He surveyed the river leading to the waterfall, then glanced at Steve. The boy was considering the water, and suddenly Blizzardmon felt some kind of mental connection with his digidestined. He could HEAR Steve's thoughts running through his mind, 'Blizzardmon COULD try freezing it. Serpensmon might become physical to escape being hit, then we can get him.'   
  
He looked up, but Blizzardmon shook his head, indicating that he already knew. When Steve mouthed `Wha? `, the Digimon thought, 'Steve? Can you hear me?'  
  
Steve stepped back, his eyes widened, and his mouth dropped open. His thoughts leapt out at Blizzardmon, 'What the heck? What's going on?'   
  
'I don't know. All I know is that I can hear your thoughts, and you can hear mine.'  
  
'Great. What happened to privacy?'   
  
'It's on holiday,' Blizzardmon thought, smiling to himself. Then he swooped up higher, and his body began to glow, "Freezing Storm!"  
  
Chilling winds began to blow as his wings beat faster and faster. Snow began to fall out of his triangles, as he blew out a swirling, silver wind. Steve started breathing on his hands, and V smiled, as if it was just a nice, cool breeze on a hot day.  
  
***************************************************************************  
  
Violet jumped as the snowstorm appeared from nowhere, "Yeep! Where did that come from?"  
  
~ 'Oh yeah, I forgot you weren't here.' ~  
  
'Now what are you going on about?'  
  
~ 'Don't worry. I'm sure Steve will explain.' ~  
  
'Steve? What are you going on about?'  
  
~ 'Aren't you feeling sleepy?' ~  
  
'Now that you mention it, a tiny bit, but stop changing the subject!'  
  
~ 'It's been a while since you last slept...' ~  
  
'Quit talking like that! You sound like you're hypnotising me or something!'  
  
~ 'The ground looks inviting, doesn't it?' ~  
  
Violet sat down, 'V, what are you doing?'  
  
~ 'It's best if you don't see the storm...so sleep...just sleep...sleep...sleep...' ~  
  
V's `voice` was becoming a steady murmur, almost a constant hum. Violet yawned, 'V, you'd better explain later...' then she leant against the tree behind her, and fell asleep.  
  
***************************************************************************  
  
Steve stared, "What the...What did you do to her?"  
  
V took her hand off Violet's forehead, "I told you, this is a mental world. All I did was send a mental command. Pretty simple, actually."  
  
Suddenly a cry of pain washed over the waterfall. Steve looked up, "Sounds like we've found him."  
  
Serpensmon burst out of the water, which, by now, was completely frozen. It glared at Blizzardmon, swooped up to the higher level, and formed a circle around a piece of the earth. There was a loud rumble as it began to rise up, but Steve leapt at Serpensmon and knocked the Digimon off. The ground stopped rising.  
  
Blizzardmon swooped down, and placed one webbed foot over Serpensmon's neck. Then his triangles began to glow, "Blizzard Triangle!"  
  
As the ice was launched, a bright light erupted from Serpensmon's body. As the Digimon disintegrated, the light swept around and become a circle. Blizzardmon looked over his shoulder, "Steve, it's a way back! Come on!"  
  
Steve looked at V, who shook her head, "Steve, I can't go, remember? I'm stuck here until the creator, the preserver, and the destroyer show up."  
  
"You can't stay here by yourself! If you're not going, then neither am I!"  
  
"Steve! You have to go! If you don't go back, those three are never going to show up! Trust me, I'll be fine, now GO!"  
  
The boy looked at his Digimon. Blizzardmon shrugged, as if to say `Your choice`, then turned around and walked into the portal. Steve turned back, "V...I..." He sighed and lifted one hand, "Bye."  
  
She smiled, "Hey, it's not forever! If you go back and help, we'll see each other again. I promise!"  
  
He smiled back, albeit weakly, "OK. See you soon, then." With that, he turned around, and ran into the portal. After a second or two, it disappeared.  
  
V sighed, whispered to Violet, "You can wake up now," then raised her head to look at the stars. 'Someday,' she thought, 'I'll get back. As long as I believe in them, and they believe in themselves, everything will be fine. I know it will... ' IS V RIGHT? AND WHO SENT SERPENSMON TO LIMBO ANYWAY? FIND OUT ON THE NEXT DIGIMON: DIGITAL MONSTERS!  
  
Author's note: Sorry if the end sounded bit rushed. And, Alan, I think this episode answers your question: No. Blizzardmon is going to stay as Blizzardmon. I don't care if Frontier has him, he's different, he's mine, and he's staying. ^_^;. Sorreeeeeeeeeee... But on the positive side, at least you know V's background now.....  
  
Lady Moon 


	21. Broken Emerald

Broken Emerald  
  
  
  
Mike sighed as he kicked yet another stone. The group had split up over three hours ago, and he already missed them. Well, except Steve. Or did he miss Steve too? He shook his head. He REALLY didn't know.  
  
Firepentmon glanced up at his digidestined. Mike had been awfully quiet since the whole Switchmon thing. The Digimon would have been worried, but, as he saw it, it wasn't particularly worrying.  
  
It seemed everyone in the group had a particular category, or rank. Steve was the leader, Violet was the fighter, for some reason, Mary was the caring, nurse-like one, John was the computer expert, and Mike was the quiet one. As far as the snake Digimon could tell, Mike was being quiet because he was usually quiet. Still, he hoped the boy would start talking soon. The silence was getting to him.  
  
The digidestined of Protection shut his eyes. In his mind, the break-up was as clear as day...  
  
  
  
FLASHBACK  
  
  
  
*** "Where's Violet?" Mike heard those words through the deadness that was his sleep, and a shiver went down his spine. Ignoring the flashing lights, the blurred images, and the headache, he opened eyes and sat up.  
  
Mary was standing up, looking around frantically. John was typing on his laptop, and their Digimon were flying overhead, trying to see the missing girl. Firepentmon was next to him, obviously waiting for him before he helped.  
  
Mike stood up, feeling as if he'd slept for a year. His joints were all stiff, and everything seemed a bit brighter, the way it does after a long sleep.  
  
'The group's coming apart,' he thought, 'First Steve, then Violet. John and Mary don't want to, but soon they'll leave, to look for the others.'  
  
Suddenly he felt cold. It was a lovely day-Warm sun, barely any clouds-but he felt as if someone had poured ice-cubes into his clothes. 'I'm meant to keep them together. If they want to split up, I have to stop them. But...' he shivered, 'What if I CAN'T? What if they go anyway? I'd be failing them...failing the group...'  
  
"We could try splitting up to find her," John suggested. They were the words Mike had been dreading. He felt paralysed. It was happening...  
  
"No..." he whispered, his voice barely audible. The others looked at him, surprised.  
  
"Mike?" Mary asked, "Is something wrong?"  
  
His fists were clenched, and he was shaking, "No..." He repeated, louder this time. They COULDN'T split up. But...  
  
Maybe it was HIM who was splitting up the group. In his heart of hearts he knew it was stupid, but what if he WAS...? He shut his eyes, and he could feel tears starting to come.  
  
"Mike?" Mary asked again, worried now. He opened his eyes, and she took a step towards him, trying to comfort him. But he stepped back. She stared at him, "Mike? What is it?"  
  
Without thinking, without realising what he was doing, he turned around and ran.  
  
"NO!!!!!!"  
  
Screaming the word, he fled, tears streaming behind him. He didn't care Firepentmon was trying to catch up with him, didn't care Mary was screaming after him, didn't care John was yelling, "MIKE! WHERE ARE YOU GOING?", didn't care Mythicmon and Jewelmon were flying after him. All he cared about was running as far away from the group as he could.  
  
Blinded with tears, he somehow found a way through the undergrowth. Then a root found his foot, and he fell forwards. Firepentmon crawled frantically up to him, "Mike? Are you OK?"  
  
He looked up at his Digimon, 'Well, someone cares about me. That makes one,' he thought. Then he heard Mythicmon swooping towards him. He leapt to his feet and started running again, but not before Firepentmon grabbed his T-shirt by the right sleeve.  
  
He didn't stop running until he couldn't hear the other two Digimon at all. ***  
  
END FLASHBACK  
  
Firepentmon shivered as he remembered Mike's scream of `NO!!!`. At the time, it had sounded more like a plea. He could sense that at that time that Mike's emotions were churning around inside him. As he looked up, he saw his digidestined's hands curl up into fists. Lately he'd been getting very emotional. What was the matter?  
  
Mike looked up, the sunlight splintering into rainbows as the tears came again. Stubbornly, he wiped them away. He couldn't fall apart again. If he did it again, he might lose Firepentmon. And if he lost his Digimon, he knew he'd lose it completely.  
  
**************************************************************************** *  
  
Steve sighed, "We leave for a day or so, and they split up. Ger-rate."  
  
He was trying to find at least one of the digidestined. Snowmon had no idea, so it was a case of `Walk. Walk. Walk`. Sometimes they turned, but apart from then, they just kept walking.  
  
After half-an-hour or so, Snowmon stopped suddenly, "Hey, can you hear something?"  
  
Steve strained his ears, then he heard it, "Mike! Will you please slow down?"  
  
Steve and Snowmon looked at each other, "Firepentmon."  
  
**************************************************************************** **  
  
The snake-like Digimon sighed. Mike had started walking a lot faster now. He wondered why he was partnered with the fastest digidestined sometimes. Being a snake, he didn't have any legs.  
  
Mike didn't seem to notice the problems his Digimon was having. All he cared about was walking. But then he saw something that made him stop suddenly.  
  
It was some kind of temple. It was almost exactly like the one where they had found their Digimon, but not quite. The triangle on the roof wasn't there, the four other pictures were missing, and there was an emerald on each of the pillars.  
  
Firepentmon crawled up to him, then flopped down, "Can...Can we h...have a b...break?"  
  
Mike let a small smile make its way onto his face, "If you can hang on for just a little bit longer, we can rest there." He pointed at the temple.  
  
**************************************************************************** **  
  
'Move closer, digidestined,' the furred being thought, 'Closer to your doom...' At the thought of fresh meat, its fur became a dark red. The colour of blood.  
  
**************************************************************************** *  
  
Steve stared at the temple, "Well, er... WHAT THE HECK'S THAT DOING HERE?"  
  
Snowmon sighed, "I don't know. Mysterious buildings aren't my area of expertise."  
  
Steve sighed, and ran a hand through his hair, "Well, we might as well just go in and SEE what it's doing here."  
  
Together, they ran up to it, and climbed up the steps.  
  
**************************************************************************** **  
  
A carving of a serpent curved around the entire building. Its head was near the back, and its body snaked back, curved to the right, up the wall, across the ceiling, back along the left wall towards the back, curved down diagonally, and finished a few inches away from its head. However, it wasn't entirely a serpent. A helmet covered the top of its head, a flame shape was on the front of its helmet, rings seemed to connect the head to the body, wings sprouted in several places, including on the helmet and just behind the rings, and its tail was more like a rattlesnake's.  
  
"WingSerpentmon," Firepentmon whispered, "He's meant to be a relation of Serpentmon's, but no-one's seen him for... well... centuries. MILLENNIA even."  
  
Mike crouched by its head. An emerald had been used for an eye, and it reflected the sunlight in thousands of directions at once. He blinked several times as it reflected the rays right in his eyes, then he heard a voice behind him, "Mike?"  
  
He spun around, "Steve!"  
  
The blonde smiled, "Yeah. So, where are the others?"  
  
Mike looked at the floor, "I don't know."  
  
"So why aren't you looking for them? From the way you were walking, I thought you were trying to hide from them."  
  
The dark-haired boy stiffened, then turned away, "I'm not running..." His protest was nothing more than a whisper.  
  
"OK then, walking."  
  
Mike squatted down, "What does it matter to you?"  
  
The blonde jerked. From the sound the sound of Mike's voice, he'd struck a nerve.  
  
"Steve, you're the one who just disappeared. Then you waltz back and try to tell me what to do..." Without even realising what he was doing, Mike clenched his hand into a fist, and brought it down on the emerald.  
  
There was a loud shattering noise as it broke. Mike stood up, not noticing that a piece of emerald had dug itself into his hand and he was now bleeding. Without a word, he strode past Steve, out of the temple.  
  
He was about to start running when he was tackled from behind. The force of Steve's leap knocked them both over, and they tumbled into a living ball. When they'd stopped, Steve realised the blood from Mike's hand had managed to get onto his shirt. However, he couldn't think about it for long, because a second later Mike's fist (non-bleeding one) hit him.  
  
Soon, they were punching, kicking (basically, fighting). Snowmon and Firepentmon stared. "Those two have got to stop it," Snowmon muttered.  
  
"Uh huh," Firepentmon agreed.  
  
Then a voice behind them purred, "Why? I think it's quite fun to watch them."  
  
They both swerved around. Lying like a sphinx was what looked like a golden brown lioness. They stared, and she chuckled. As she laughed, her fur became a light pinkish sort of colour.  
  
Steve and Mike, by this time, had noticed the newcomer, and were standing next to each other (LM: AWWWWWWWWWW...). The lioness looked at them, and her fur became an emotionless (?) creamy-white, "What did you stop for?"  
  
Snowmon tensed, "Emotionessmon. She's a hunter Digimon who, quite literally, can be tickled pink or green with envy. Her fur changes colour to show her mood, so you know when to start running. If it's red, she's about to launch her Lioness Flame, and you won't be getting up in a hurry if it hits!"  
  
Steve grabbed his digivice, "Guys, digivolve!"  
  
"Snowmon digivolve to Icemon!"  
  
"Firepentmon digivolve to Serpentmon!"  
  
Emotionessmon smiled. Then her fur seemed to ripple, and became the colour of blood, "Lioness Flame!"  
  
She threw back her head, and her mouth started to glow. Then she brought it down again, mouth open, and flames shot out. They crashed into the two Champions, who only just stopped themselves from devolving.  
  
Icemon cried out, "Steve, she's too strong to be just a Champion! She's got to be an Ultimate!"  
  
Steve nodded, "Right." His crest began to glow, points of light firing towards his Digimon.  
  
"Icemon digivolve to Blizzardmon!"  
  
The ice beast spread his wings and soared into the air, "Blizzard Triangle!"  
  
"Lioness Flame!"  
  
The fire melted the ice easily, and crashed into Blizzardmon, who screamed in pain.  
  
"BLIZZARDMON!" Steve screamed, running towards his friend, who was plummeting down. The falling Ultimate flashed and became Snowmon again. Steve just managed to catch him, and then bent over, seeing if his friend was OK.  
  
Emotionessmon sprang forwards, too fast for Serpentmon to encircle her, "Lioness Flame!"  
  
Everything seemed to slow down for Mike. He saw the flames, heard Steve's scream, but it seemed to be taking forever. The power began to build up in his body, "Mike digimorph to Tigermon!"  
  
He sprang forwards, and crouched in front of Steve and Snowmon. The flames collided with him, sending him back. Emotionessmon growled, then fired again. This time, Tigermon de-digimorphed.  
  
The attacking Digimon smiled at the exhausted Digidestined, batted back a frantic Serpentmon, then focused on Steve and Snowmon. 'The Digidestined cannot function without their leader,' she thought, 'Take him down, and the rest shall follow.'  
  
She sprang, claws outstretched, teeth bared. Steve screamed, not caring if it sounded as if he was scared out of his mind. Mike slowly opened his eyes. He saw Emotionessmon leaping, heard Steve scream once more.  
  
He gritted his teeth. This time he would not let her do anything. Adrenaline pumped through his veins, giving him the strength he needed. He pulled himself to his feet, then ran towards Steve.  
  
Steve stared at the claws that would surely end his life. He willed himself not to shut his eyes. He had to be strong. He didn't want to die a coward.  
  
Then he felt something push him out of the way. He rolled over, and saw Mike crouching down, right in Emotionessmon's path. "MIKE!" he yelled. The raven-haired boy looked at him, and, strangely enough, grinned.  
  
'Huh?' Steve thought, 'What's he grinning about?'  
  
Serpentmon paused too, 'What the... HAS HE GONE MAD?'  
  
Mike bowed his head slightly. The thought of those claws gouging out his eyes wasn't exactly a pleasant one. Still, at least Steve was OK...  
  
Then a bluey-green light began to surround his crest.  
  
Thousands of thin beams of light shot out. About ten joined together and knocked back Emotionessmon. The others, apart from one, streaked into the temple. The one remaining circled round, and hit Mike's still bleeding hand. Or, to be more precise, the emerald shard dug into his hand.  
  
The light spread across the piece, then lifted it out, and floated towards the temple. Well, it ALMOST got to the temple when...  
  
"Lioness Flame!"  
  
The lioness Digimon's attack knocked it out of the air, and the light vanished. Mike felt himself stiffen. He didn't know how he knew, he just knew that the piece had to get to the temple.  
  
Serpentmon flew down, and managed to whack Emotionessmon away from the shard with his tail. Using all the adrenaline that was still flowing inside him, Mike ran forwards and grabbed the shard. Then he turned, and ran into the temple.  
  
The sight that he saw can't be described well enough. The pieces of the broken emerald were all suspended in mid-air, each surrounded with bluey- green light, and the carving was practically throbbing with the colour. Apart from the eyehole. It remained dark.  
  
Somehow, Mike knew what to do. It felt as if a voice had awakened inside him that knew what to do, and was making sure he did it. And, as if it had taken over his body, he did it.  
  
He took off his crest, and opened the hand which was carrying the fragment. Carefully, he laid the crest on top. Then he focused on protection. He thought about protecting Steve from Dozemon, even though it wasn't especially protecting. He thought about the way he had just protected Steve from Emotionessmon. He thought about the way he had protected the group countless times by digimorphing.  
  
'And,' he thought, 'I'll carry on protecting them. Even if it takes me forever to find them, I will. And until then, I'll protect Steve and our Digimon.'  
  
His crest practically exploded with light. The light grew and grew, surrounding the fragment AND the crest. Out of instinct, Mike dropped it, but the crest and the fragment seemed to merge together and soar up. Then it began to encircle the other pieces. One by one, floated down and settled into place in the eyehole of the carving. When the last piece, the piece that had merged with the crest of Protection, swooped down and took its place, the light was so blinding Mike had to shield his eyes.  
  
Then the light seemed to rise up out of the carving. The only thing was, the carving had vanished! Somehow, the light WAS the carving!  
  
Then the light swooped out, and Mike ran to the entrance just in time to see it sinking into Serpentmon's body. Then the light changed from bluey- green to white, and Serpentmon began to lengthen.  
  
"Serpentmon digivolve to WingSerpentmon!"  
  
He grew incredibly in length. His body changed from blood red to fiery- orange, whilst his pink mask became a deeper orange, with a flame drawn on it. His body widened out in some places, and wings the colour of fire grew out of them.  
  
Emotionessmon took a step back, and her fur paled, "Oh no, WingSerpentmon! A fire snake Digimon with a Flame Wing to match. But he was meant to disappear ages ago, so what's going on?"  
  
WingSerpentmon smiled, "I'll tell you what's going on kitty. You're toast." His wings began to glow their flame colours, "Flame Wing!" Fire shot out of them, a few feathers mixed in. Emotionessmon tried to block them with her own flames, but the attack was too fast and too powerful. She screamed, and disintegrated.  
  
WingSerpentmon sighed. Then a bluey-green ball of light emerged from just below the rings of his neck, and he de-digivolved. When the white light faded, a dark red snake with a rattlesnake's tail, Firepentmon's claws, and very long streamer things positioned like ears was lying there.  
  
Snowmon gave a small smile, "Snakemon. Not the cutest thing ever, but a lot cuter than its other forms. Its Rattlesnake Tail can be used for a small distraction, but he's not exactly a fighter."  
  
Mike ran towards his Digimon, then dropped to his knees and picked it up, "Are you OK?"  
  
Then a deep voice seemed to come from above him, "He'll be fine."  
  
Mike head shot up, but all he could see was the light. He pointed at it, "W...What are..."  
  
"You?" the mysterious voice chuckled, "I'm WingSerpentmon. I tried to stop a Digimon named Satanmon taking over the Digiworld, but I was trapped inside that carving. He sealed me in using the power of Protection, as that is the crest that governs my power. I had to get someone who held the power to release me, and in return, I helped your Digimon digivolve to Ultimate."  
  
Mike looked down at his Digimon, trying to take it all in, "But... you needed my crest to completely unseal you?"  
  
"Sorry."  
  
"So. Firepentmon won't become an Ultimate again?"  
  
"Oh, that. Well, I'm free now. Thanks to you. Here, take it."  
  
The crest of Protection, inside its tag, dropped out of it. Mike caught it. He stared at it, then looked up, "But... how are you going to..."  
  
"I should have deleted ages ago. I can't have a body again without being reconstructed and born at the Primary Village. But then I won't be able to help. And I have been sealed for so long, my memories of the Digiworld have faded. My data won't be able to find the way. If I travelled within your crest, I could help and find my way back some day. But the choice is yours."  
  
Mike looked down at the crest in his hand. He considered asking Steve, but then he thought, 'It's my choice. I can't be influenced.  
  
'Well, he said `Some day`, so he's not going to force us to go straight to the Primary Village. And we probably won't find anyone else who can tell us what's happened in the past.'  
  
(LM: You have to remember he doesn't know about V)  
  
He looked up, "Alright. I'll do it."  
  
The light began to increase, then shoot down, forming a ball around the crest. Then it pulsed with the light, as the Digimon's spirit said, "Thanks."  
  
Steve watched, feeling such a wave of emotions they were almost affecting him physically. 'I'd never do that,' he thought, 'I don't like the idea of an ancient spirit bossing us about. Well, I guess V doesn't, but V doesn't want to be born again. WingSerpentmon's helping us because he can't do Orienteering. Bit of a difference.'  
  
He sighed and looked up, 'Maybe I'm just not ready to be a real leader. Until we get back together, I'm dropping the job. I need to talk to V, before I make my decision.'  
  
Mike looked at the crest, then up at Steve. He noticed the boy seemed distant. "Hey," he called, "You OK?"  
  
Steve sighed, "Mike, until we get back to the others, is it OK if you DON'T treat me like a supreme leader?"  
  
The dark-haired boy blinked in surprise, then nodded. Steve smiled then turned away, and started walking. Putting on his crest and scooping up Snakemon, he ran after the former leader, 'Wonder what's wrong with him...?'  
  
WILL STEVE BECOME A LEADER ONCE AGAIN? AND HOW WILL V REACT TO THIS NEW LINK TO THE PAST? FIND OUT IN THE NEXT DIGIMON: DIGITAL MONSTERS!  
  
Author's Note: This ended up nothing like the episode idea I started with. The basic plot's there: Meet Steve, fight, Digimon attacks, crest glows, WingSerpentmon defeats enemy. And the emerald was going to be broken when I started. But the Digimon spirit, Mike getting emotional, Steve dropping the leader spot... Totally unexpected. YAAAAAAAAAGH!!!! I have no control (if I ever did)! Also, this means I have to change some of my plot lines to include my D.S. NOOOOOOOOOOO!!!! Not a plot change!  
  
Anyway, enough of my rambling. This is actually going to be the last episode you get for a bit, because I haven't finished the next episode... Oh well. I'll give you a few snippets though, just to keep you busy. Mary fans, you'll be VERY happy when I post it...  
  
  
  
"Sleep Knowledge, sleep..." Those mystical eyes bore into him, and he felt his eyes obeying to the call...  
  
"WHAT? I COME ALL THE WAY HERE, AND YOU ALMOST KILL ME?" She screamed, almost deafening him.  
  
"He is, by all rights, mine."  
  
"The only one who can save him now is you. You have to defeat him..."  
  
"Return to the shadows from which you came..."  
  
"A last weapon against the vampires..."  
  
"You two are connected in ways you cannot even begin to understand..."  
  
EPISODE 22: Hypnotic Links  
  
Lady Moon 


	22. Hypnotic Links

Hypnotic Links  
"OW!" John cried out, tripping over a root, landing right in the middle of a bunch of thorns. Mythicmon would have helped him, if he hadn't been in danger of falling of his branch because he was laughing so hard.  
  
"Oh my god," the part-bird, part-dragon Digimon laughed, "That was priceless. It... You... I'm sorry, it's just so funny!"  
  
"Hilarious," John muttered, getting to his feet. Then he gestured to a tear in his T-shirt, from which blood was now flowing freely, "I'm guessing this is funny too?"  
  
Mythicmon's response was to fall out of his tree. John snarled, shifted his backpack slightly, and trudged on. As he walked, he muttered all the things he would like to do to his Digimon under his breath.  
  
"Oh, come on," Mythicmon flew up to him, "You have to admit it was funny."  
  
John just glared at him. The mythical Digimon noticed his eyes seemed to have darkened, and his fists were clenched. Danger. He gulped, and whispered, in a voice that was much higher than his usual one, "Sorry."  
  
The boy glared at him for a bit longer, then looked away and stalked off. Mythicmon followed, wondering how in the Digiworld he was going to get out of this one.  
  
****************************************************************************  
  
Mary sighed as she manoeuvred around another patch of thorns. Jewelmon hovered over them, "How come, if you humans don't like thorns, you haven't got wings to avoid them with?"  
  
The girl smiled, partly at Jewelmon's comment, and partly in triumph at managing to successfully find a path round the thorns. She stretched, "Well, on Earth, we have a little thing called evolution. It's a bit like digivolution, but it's more gradual, and, whilst you guys just get your data modified, and no one else is affected, our entire species feels the effect, and begins to take that shape. If you want something better, ask John sometime, but as it is, that's about the best I can say. And the reason we don't have wings is we haven't developed them, and probably never will. Our environment can be travelled without flying, you see. And besides, we actually evolved from monkeys, so we're much more comfortable holding onto something when in the air."  
  
Jewelmon blinked, "Oh. I thought you were descended from those naked apple- eaters."  
  
Mary stared at her Digimon, "Come again?"  
  
"I heard Steve, John and Violet talking about them. Violet was talking about them, Steve was trying to say that she should stop using weird nicknames, and John was giving them his theories about how it was scientifically impossible for them to have existed."  
  
Mary sighed, "Might have guessed it was something to do with Violet. She's always called them that."  
  
The jewel Digimon smiled, then flew down to Mary, a thought crossing her mind, "Hey, Mary, did you know Violet well back home? I know you've mentioned it before, but my memory's not that good. Care to refresh it?"  
  
There was a pause as the girl thought about how she would put it, "Well, actually I knew her quite well. We made a sort of trio with Lizzie, she's a girl back home. Actually, Lizzie's like Violet's second cousin, or her first one twice moved, we never worked out which. Anyway, we tend to call ourselves the `Ladies of the Digital World`, because on our website, all our names relate to that sort of thing. Violet's Lady Moon, Lizzie's Digimon Empress, and I'm Night Slayer. So yeah, I guess you could say I knew Violet pretty well back home."  
  
**************************************************************************  
  
"Whoa." John's reaction probably mirrored most people's. He, with Mythicmon flying behind, had just made it out of the thorny forest. Before them was something like a graveyard. It was surrounded by a high iron fence, and inside were thousands of gravestones. And in the centre was a statue.  
  
Now, most graveyard statues are of angels guiding dead people, or something not unlike that, but this was an exception. It resembled an angel, because it was human formed and had wings, but it would never be a true angel. It was carved out of black stone, and had its arms crossed over its chest, wings raised, eyes closed. Its wings looked like a dragon's, its hair came down to the ground, and it was dressed in a flowing dress. So that made it a she.  
  
He didn't know why, but John felt drawn to it somehow. Before he realised what he was doing, he was walking towards the gate, feeling a pull on him he'd never felt before. Mythicmon flew onto his shoulder, and waved a wing in front of his eyes, "Hello? John? Anyone home?"  
  
John was just reaching out to open the gate, when he stopped, and shook his head, "What?" He glanced at Mythicmon, then looked back at the gate, "What was I just doing?"  
  
His Digimon did his version of raising his eyebrows, "Er, looked like opening the gate. Is there any reason you can't remember what you did about thirty seconds ago, or has your memory been completely erased?"  
  
For once, John didn't bother answering back. He just sighed, then looked at the statue, "I don't know... I just looked at the statue, and I can't remember anything else." For a moment, he just looked at it. Then Mythicmon gave a small screech of alarm as a purple glow began to surround the boy, whilst another began to spread around the statue.  
  
Then it faded, and John pushed the gate open. His Digimon flew in front of him, "Yo, John? Anyone home?" His digidestined just walked forwards towards the statue, completely ignoring him. 'OK, this is now officially creeping me out,' the Digimon thought, as he flew after him.  
  
When he reached the statue, John looked up at it, then took off his crest, and was about to lay it down on the podium when Mythicmon grabbed it. He flew behind his digidestined, and yelled, "HEY! JOHN!"  
  
He spun around, then blinked, "Mythicmon? What are you doing?"  
  
"John, I think that statue thing's trying to get the crest by hypnotising you or something. Every time you look at it, it's like you get put under some kind of spell. Now, please don't look at it, because you are seriously starting to freak me out!"  
  
The boy blinked, then shut his eyes and held out his hand, "OK, I can't look at it now, so can I have my crest back? It feels really weird not having it on." Carefully, the Digimon obeyed.  
  
Then he screeched. About ten rotting human shaped Digimon had just appeared from behind the statue. Each one, where its skin had rotted away completely, showed its innards, "Oh God, Zombiemon. These guys are so disgusting; they don't need to use their Breath of the Dead to defend themselves. No one's going to go near them long enough to be a threat!"  
  
One held out its rotting hand, "Give us Knowledge. He is the Key. GIVE US KNOWLEDGE."  
  
John eyes shot open and he turned around. Luckily though, since he was focusing on the Zombiemon and not the statue, he didn't fall under its spell again. Instead, he just looked as if he was going to throw up at the sight of the undead Digimon.  
  
One of them leapt forwards, "Give the goddess your crest." The rest of them took this up, so that it sounded like a very echoey cave. Only they were outside.  
  
The digidestined took a step backwards, then screamed as one jumped at him, "Breath of the Dead!"  
  
"Mythicmon digivolve to Phoenixomon!"  
  
The firebird swept one wing forwards, and the skull-shaped toxic attack disappeared. Then he spread his wings out wide, "Phoenix Fire!"  
  
And so it went. John started to back away, thinking to quickly run to the exit, when something hit him from behind. He just had time to note the obviously Zombiemon hands (they were half rotted away, and quite a lot of black bone was showing), when he smashed into the statue. The crest, which had still been in his hand, flew out, and landed on one of the statue's hands.  
  
There was complete silence for a second that felt like a year. Then a purple glow began to spread out from the crest across the statue. Overhead, the crescent moon slowly disappeared. And when the glow faded, the statue was alive. The skin had become pale, practically white, and for the first time John noticed two purple rings, one inside the other, on its dress.  
  
Phoenixomon's eyes widened in terror, "Oh no, Hekatemon! She's one of the Digimon who controls the Moon, and it shows in her power. Her Moon's Judgement is one of the most powerful attacks an Ultimate ever had!"  
  
John's mouth opened and shut like a goldfish, whilst around him, the Zombiemon dropped to their knees. Then Hekatemon lifted one arm and aimed at Phoenixomon, "Moon's Judgement!"  
  
A pure white beam shot out at the Digimon, who screamed out in pain as he de-digivolved. Then Hekatemon looked down at John, "This is Knowledge?"  
  
The lead Zombiemon nodded, "Yes, my mistress."  
  
She raised an eyebrow, "Doesn't look like much. But then, few do." She leant forwards and grabbed John by the T-shirt, "Do you know who I am, boy?" When he didn't answer, she smiled, "Ah, I see that story has been kept a secret. Well, we don't want to be changing anything do we..."  
  
The Zombiemon got back to their (decayed) feet, and exited. Their task was done, and their mistress did not need them now. And what she was about to do required complete silence and concentration.  
  
Hekatemon let go of John and leapt down next to him. Before he could run, however, she grabbed him under the arms and lifted him up, so that they were looking each other straight in the eye. Then the female Digimon whispered so quietly none but she could hear it, "Moon's Hypnotism."  
  
As John stared into her eyes, he saw a small white circle forming in them. Then, slowly, it began to turn, like the Moon. It became Gibbous, then Half, then Crescent, then New, then Crescent, then Half, then Gibbous, then Full, then Gibbous...  
  
The turnings began to quicken, and the boy couldn't look away. There was something... hypnotic about them. Then he felt his eyelids begin to droop. He fought to keep them open, and heard Hekatemon's voice, as if from a great distance, "Sleep Knowledge, sleep..." Those mystical eyes bore into him, and he felt his eyes obeying to the call... No. He struggled with his eyelids, but he could feel himself drifting away. A warmth began to spread through him, and through it he could hear Hekatemon whispering, "Just relax... Calm... Peace..." Then he was gone.  
  
**************************************************************************  
  
Mary yawned, then stiffened. Why was she tired all of a sudden? She'd just finished her (small) version of lunch, which Jewelmon had said contained enough sugar to make up for any coffee on the Earth.  
  
Of course, Mary hadn't mentioned that with great amounts of coffee, comes a great bladder problem.  
  
Anyway, if she's had so much sugar, how come she was tired? For a moment, her vision started to swim. Then the drowsiness disappeared as suddenly as it had come, and she blinked. She sighed, and muttered, "Okaaaaaaaaaaaay... That was weird."  
  
"What was?" Jewelmon swooped down onto her shoulder.  
  
"I just felt sleepy all of a sudden, and then I was wide awake again."  
  
Her Digimon blinked, "OK, I've heard of a lot of strange things, but that is definitely up there with stuff like seeing two humans become Digimon."  
  
"Mmm..." Mary's expression became distant, before suddenly snapping into focus, "Jewelmon, that's a graveyard!"  
  
Her Digimon squinted, "Oh yeah. So?"  
  
"WHY THE HECK HAS IT GOT A LARGE HOLE IN THE CENTRE?!"  
  
**************************************************************************  
  
John stirred slightly. There was a very loud buzzing in his brain, which sounded a lot like a bunch of bees trying to buzz Beethoven's 9th, and when he tried to think, it interrupted his thoughts by being even louder than before. 'Ow...' he thought, reaching up to rub his head...  
  
Or rather, TRIED to reach up. The thought was there, the need, and the hand necessary to do so... They just didn't seem to be connected. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't control any part of himself. Then, to his horror, he began to move... WITHOUT his input.  
  
'AAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!' The mental scream was loud enough to disrupt the airwaves, had they been able to hear it. However, they hadn't, and carried on life as per usual. John's, meanwhile, was far from usual. A being other than himself was controlling his body. In that scenario, even the calmest and brainiest person will be forced to lose it. Even for a tiny bit.  
  
Through his screams, though, a conversation began to filter through. Deciding he would just waste mental energy if he carried on as he was, he decided to listen in. The first voice was very powerful, yet elegant. In fact, in some strange way, it sort of reminded him of Violet. Searching his memory, he finally came up with the name `Hekatemon`.  
  
The second... He gulped. It was him. Or at least, whatever was now in control of him. Whilst he'd never previously believed in hypnotism and possession, he was beginning to realise that those things were about the only things that explained his current situation.  
  
"You understand?" Hekatemon asked.  
  
"Yes," `John` replied in a strangely zombie-like voice. This was also accompanied by a mental whimper.  
  
"Then tell me."  
  
"I take my Digimon down to the guardian and demand the star. If he doesn't give it to me straight away, I fight, and destroy."  
  
John growled as he felt Hekatemon pat him on the head. Just because she was in control now didn't mean she could do that to him. NO ONE had done that to him for as long as he could remember, and it wasn't going to start again now.  
  
Then Hekatemon pointed two fingers at the ground, "Black Magic!" Several streams of darkness erupted from the two extended digits, hitting the ground.  
  
The effect was something like that when Moses parted the sea. The ground began to crack apart and shoot upwards, before gravity took over and it fell back down. However, it curved in its descent, so it crashed down on either side of the now very large hole in the earth. Inside his head, John did the mental version of fainting.  
  
Hekatemon smiled at the boy, then seemed to melt away into the shadows. `John` smiled in a way that would make small children run for their mothers, screaming in terror, before descending down a set of steps that had formed inside, leading into the darker regions of the pit.  
  
Mythicmon groaned as he opened his eyes, before they widened as they saw John descending. There was a brief moment of panic, before a heavy blanket seemed to wrap itself around his brain. He was dimly aware that his body was moving of its own accord. But the blanket was wrapping itself more and more around his brain, before he lost contact with any thought, any feeling...  
  
**************************************************************************  
  
Mary looked down; "There is a very large hole in the centre of a graveyard. Either Howard Carter (LM: That's what the guy who opened Tutankhamun's tomb was called. I think) has been a very busy boy, despite the fact I think he's dead, or we have a huge problem."  
  
Jewelmon stared past the digidestined, "Um, Mary?"  
  
"Mmm?"  
  
"I don't think that's the only one."  
  
The girl looked up at the Digimon in surprise, before turning. There was a very long silence as her brain registered the fifteen or so Zombiemon coming towards her. Then, "YEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGH!!!!!!!!!!"  
  
The sheer volume of the scream was enough to stop the decaying Digimon for long enough. Noticing their enemies current state, Jewelmon decided to ignore the ringing in her `ears` (technically she didn't have them AS SUCH) and just attack, "Jewelmon digivolve to Diamondmon!"  
  
The cat Digimon lunged towards them, baring her teeth, "Diamond Strike!"  
  
Several Zombiemon were knocked down by that, whilst another was actually destroyed. It (he?) was soon avenged though, "Breath of the Dead!"  
  
Now, as things go, that attack wasn't nearly as terrifying as, say, Blizzard Triangle, but when fired from fourteen different Digimon, it became quite lethal. Diamondmon growled as she was forced to hop back into the air, "Mary, get down there! I don't know where it leads, but it has to be better than this!"  
  
The girl nodded, before vanishing down the staircase. Diamondmon fired one last Diamond Strike at the Zombiemon, to distract them, before she swooped up, then down into the pit.  
  
**************************************************************************** *  
  
There was a distinct booming sound coming from up ahead as Mary and her Digimon walked down the passage. It was very much like an Egyptian tomb, with markings on the walls, which resembled hieroglyphics, but were actually a more ancient version of Digispeak. There was also the rather nifty (LM: NOT MY WORD) attachment of flaming torches. However, apparently this wasn't really helping Mary.  
  
"If a SINGLE scarab beetle DARES to try and get under my skin, I fear I may lose it. In a way that involves taking over the world so I can have access to all the nuclear bombs, so I can blow up the Earth! Mwahahahahahaha..."  
  
Diamondmon gave her a very strange look, "OK, two questions. One: What the heck was the deal with suddenly acting like Witchmon or something and laughing evilly, and two: What did you mean by that comment about scarabs?"  
  
Mary went red, "Er... Well, first, you remember that website thing I was talking about? Violet, Lizzie and I tend to start acting a bit weird and evil on that. And second, there's this really scary movie called The Mummy we were watching once, and there were these really scary scarab beetles that crawled under your skin."  
  
"Lovely."  
  
"Yep. I remember when we first saw them doing that."  
FLASHBACK (LM: I just slipped this in 'cos Dad kept nagging me about Lizzie. So Dad, here's a scene with `The Mysterious Lizzie`. Enjoy!)  
*** Mary was clutching a large teddy bear tightly. VERY tightly. It was the sort of grip drowning men have on life belts, bookworms have on books, computer geeks have on computers... or long, black-haired girls have on teddy bears when watching The Mummy.  
  
Violet had opted for the simple `Smile, they'll think you're enjoying it. Only panic if everyone else is`, whilst next to her, Lizzie gave Mary a pitying look. Whilst she was practically wetting her pants, she most certainly wasn't going to tell Mary that, "I pity people who can't even watch a simple horror movie acting their age. I mean, come on Slayer, that's absolutely pathetic."  
  
Mary just glared at her, before they turned back to the screen. They watched as the stone turned into a live scarab without much display of emotion. Then the scarab began to crawl into the guy's skin and head up, as nothing more than a bump. At this point, Mary's grip on the teddy began to increase to a kind never before seen in nature, Violet's smile became far more fixed, and Lizzie's pants began to resemble a rainforest. And then the edge of the scarab appeared in his eye.  
  
There was a very long silence, before, "YAAAAAAAAGGGGGHHH!!!!"  
  
Mary ran out of the room, still screaming and still clutching the teddy, Violet scrambled as far back on the sofa as she could, and Lizzie latched onto her, screaming loud enough to wake the dead. It was at this point that they decided Buffy and Angel episodes were quite scary enough for them. ***  
END FLASHBACK  
Mary was brought out of her musings by a particularly loud boom from up ahead. She and Diamondmon exchanged glances, before, in the true style of Digidestined, running ahead in a way that could easily get them killed.  
  
****************************************************************************  
  
They emerged in a very large chamber. No, a COLOSSAL chamber. No, actually there is no word to describe its largeness. I'll just say that it was BIG.  
  
Ancient symbols covered the walls, of the same type as there had been in the corridor. Near the back, a set of steps led up to an altar with a single flickering candle on it. The flame itself was a very unusual one, bright enough to light the whole chamber, and constantly changing colour. Orange, blue, red, green, purple, grey, purple, yellow, pink, gold, bluey- green, reddy-brown, a lighter pink, white...  
  
The strange colour changing light showed two Digimon in the centre of the chamber. One looked a bit like Centarumon, except he didn't have any of the markings or helmet. In fact, the only thing they had in common was their shape. This Digimon's human chest had four lines meeting in the centre as a star. The horse part looked like a very powerful blonde-coloured horse, with some kind of raised ridge running along its back down to its tail. The tail was a deeper golden colour, as was his hair, which came down to about level with the star. A crossbow seemed to be attached to his left arm, whilst his right was reaching up to take an arrow from the quiver on his human back.  
  
Diamondmon identified him, "Sagittariusmon. He's a Starsign Digimon who takes his power, as well as his name, from the constellation of Sagittarius. His Centaur's Star Arrow strikes his enemies down with the power of the heavens."  
  
The other Digimon was much more recognisable. As Mary and Diamondmon watched, Phoenixomon swooped down, "Phoenix Fire!"  
  
Sagittariusmon leapt out of the way with almost relative ease. As he turned back to face the firebird, Mary heard someone curse. Squinting past the fighters, she stared as she saw John mutter something under his breath that clearly wasn't `Oh poor thing`. She leant towards her Digimon, "Diamondmon, there's John. But what the heck's he doing?"  
  
"No idea. But we'd best stop him fast. Sagittariusmon's too important to kill. If he dies, it'll send the Zodiac Circle spinning out of control."  
  
"I know that! Now let's go!" Mary hopped onto her Digimon's back, and the cat Digimon swooped over to the Digidestined. John stared at them in surprise, then made a tiny motion at Phoenixomon.  
  
The bird Digimon raised his wings, "Phoenix Fire!" Diamondmon just managed to swerve out of the way, but the edge of the attack caught her and whacked her to the side. Mary screamed as she went flying, but it was cut off as she hit the ground. She bent down as she landed, her legs absorbing most of the crash.  
  
Now, most girls would probably be thinking `I wanna go home. This is too scary. Let's just leave the scary Digimon things alone and get the heck outta here`. But, as I'm sure you've gathered by now, Mary was not most girls. And at that moment, all she felt was anger.  
  
She stood straight up, then grabbed John by the front of his shirt, "WHAT? I COME ALL THE WAY HERE, AND YOU ALMOST KILL ME?" she screamed, almost deafening him.  
  
John blinked at her, and for a moment the real boy began to break out. He squinted and whispered, "MARY?" But before he got any kind of reaction, the Zombie-John took over, and shoved her off him.  
  
She stared at him for a second or so, before beginning to give a primal growl. Diamondmon narrowed her eyes at Phoenixomon, and a growl, almost exactly the same as her Digidestined's, began to emit from her throat. Sagittariusmon had leapt back onto the steps, so that his back was covered in the eerie light the candle gave. For a moment, all you could hear were the two growls, beginning to combine into one steady buzz.  
  
Then the wall opposite Sagittariusmon began to turn black and melt away. The females leapt back, stunned, Sagittariusmon's eyes narrowed, and only `John` and Phoenixomon seemed unfazed. Then, from the dripping hole, Hekatemon stepped out, "What's going on now? A bit more action?"  
  
Mary leaned over to Diamondmon, who'd landed next to her, "Did I really see someone burn a hole in the wall and walk through it, or am I hallucinating?"  
  
Her Digimon smiled at her, "If so, I'm hallucinating too."  
  
Hekatemon looked over at them, only then registering their presence. Then she walked calmly over to them, and bent down to look at Mary eye-to-eye, "Another Digidestined. Nice to know the feminine streak is still going strong. Now, girl, I suggest you leave. There is work being done here, and I don't need Digidestined getting in the way."  
  
Mary looked confused, "But, what's John doing here then? Technically, he's a Digidestined too."  
  
Hekatemon smiled evilly and straightened up, "Ah, but I need him. And, at the moment, he's not John."  
  
Mary and Diamondmon exchanged glances. Then Mary took a long step around Hekatemon and looked very closely at John. Then she looked back at Hekatemon, "Hypnotised or possessed?"  
  
The evil Digimon looked surprised, "Oh, you're good."  
  
"Nah, I just watch and read about this kind of thing all the time. His eyes look kinda dim and misty, and he didn't seem to notice I was about a centimetre away from him, so it's quite clear that's what happened to him. Now, is he hypnotised or possessed?"  
  
"Hypnotised." This voice was a new one. They all turned around to see Sagittariusmon walking towards them, "She's hypnotised him in order to get that which I guard. And then she'll keep him under her control. She thinks he belongs to her."  
  
That statement seemed to anger Hekatemon more than anything, "What do you mean, `thinks`? He is, by all rights, mine."  
  
"Look, you can't take him just because of something that happened over a millennium ago. And you can't take the star either."  
  
Mary and Diamondmon had identical looks of puzzlement on at this point. Then Mary managed to insert a comment, "Um... Excuse me?" They both turned to face her. She continued, "Well, normally there's a way to wake people up when they've been hypnotise. So, what do you do to get John out of it?"  
  
Hekatemon smirked, whilst Sagittariusmon sighed, "The only one who can save him now is you. You have to defeat him."  
  
There was a long silence. Then Mary groaned, "Great. I'm guessing a real battle, not on Etherlords or some other computer game?" Sagittariusmon shook his head, "Ger-reat."  
  
Hekatemon grinned, then clicked her fingers. Instantly Phoenixomon swooped down towards Diamondmon, "Phoenix Fire!"  
  
The cat Digimon sprang out of the way, "Diamond Strike!"  
  
Mary's mouth dropped open, "Hey, what are you doing? You're not meant to be fighting each other!"  
  
Diamondmon growled as she dodged again, "How else are we going to beat him?"  
  
"There has to be some other way!" Mary never thought she'd see the two Digimon fighting each other. Throughout their time in the Digiworld, she'd noticed a particular friendship between those two. And now they were fighting. She whimpered slightly, 'I know there has to be some kind of catch. S.P.L.A.T. never had to defeat/kill all of those hypnotised kids. They just had to defeat the... Demon... Headmaster...'  
  
Suddenly it hit her. They'd thought Sagittariusmon meant they had to defeat John and Mythicmon! But... She looked up at Diamondmon, still going at it, "Diamondmon! Stop it!"  
  
Her Digimon stared at her, barely avoiding yet another Phoenix Fire, "Are you crazy? If I stop he'll kill both of us!"  
  
"I didn't mean stop attacking him! I meant aim at someone else!"  
  
Now one of Phoenixomon's attacks did catch the cat Digimon, and she crash- landed in front of her Digidestined, "Like who? Is firing at Sagittariusmon really going to help?"  
  
Mary smiled, "No. But firing at Hekatemon should. She said it herself: John isn't really John at the moment. So by firing at Hekatemon AKA the one who started this, we're much more likely to get a result!"  
  
Diamondmon's look turned into one of understanding, whilst Mary just smiled. Then her smile faded as her crest began to glow with flesh-pink light. Phoenixomon stopped his dive to stare, whilst Hekatemon muttered a curse. Sagittariusmon smiled, and John's real mind was able to take over for a moment as the Zombie one stared. Then the same glow began to spread throughout Diamondmon's body.  
  
"Diamondmon digivolve to Silvermon!"  
  
The diamond, gold and silver on her back disappeared, to be replaced by a silver piece of armour, covered in runes. Her wings grew larger and finer, with silver feathers appearing amongst the white. Rings of the same silver with the same runes covered her tail, except for the hairs at the end. These were a darker silver than the rest, with beads of a lighter silver threaded on them. Her head changed, abandoning a cat's playful grin for a lioness' cold stare. A piece of silver armour fixed itself over each of her cheeks, and another larger one covered her head from the forehead to the opposite side.  
  
Sagittariusmon smiled, partly from surprise, partly from happiness, "Looks like our troubles are over for now. Silvermon is a powerful Lioness Digimon who fights mainly with her Silver Beam. I say `mainly` because she's never afraid to fall back on the old solution: a good old catfight!"  
  
Silvermon growled at Hekatemon, who wasn't looking quite as confident now. Then the humanoid Digimon held up one hand, "Moon's Judgement!"  
  
With one sweep of her wings, Silvermon flew into the air, before noting the mad Phoenixomon heading towards her. With a slightly sympathetic smile, she half-closed her eyes and the pieces of silver on her cheeks began to glow, "Silver Beam!"  
  
Two beams of silvery light shot out, joining together into one broad one. It smashed into the phoenix Digimon with so much force it knocked him straight back into the wall. He groaned as he glowed and shrank down to Mythicmon again.  
  
Hekatemon grabbed onto John's shoulder as the lioness Digimon turned to face her. Then she smiled, squeezing so hard his blood began to ooze out between her fingers, "Give it up Silvermon. You try and hit me, he dies. And we both know how much you want THAT to happen."  
  
Silvermon growled, not moving. Then Hekatemon gave a short startled scream as Mary tackled her from behind. She lost her grip on John, and Silvermon dived forward to help the assault. After that, they became almost a blur of hair and fur and fists and claws. John looked stunned, and could feel Hekatemon's power slipping slightly. Not so much that he was in control, but enough for him to control his blinking and where he looked.  
  
Eventually, Hekatemon managed to pull away, her wings beating frantically. She looked a complete mess. There were several claw marks all over her skin, and she was bleeding from most of them, especially one that had come dangerously close to splitting her windpipe. There was a noticeable clump of hair missing from her scalp, and the hairs she was gripping in her fist didn't look like them, more like some of Mary's. Silvermon's white fur was all over her dress, which was now only just holding together. Even her wings had holes torn in them.  
  
Mary and Silvermon didn't look great either, though they were better off than the dark Digimon. Silvermon's armour had several dents and scratches, and the armour on her head looked like it had almost been mashed into her head. Her fur was gone in some places, and pieces of Hekatemon's hair lay amongst the remaining bits. Her wings had taken a battering too, and it looked like Hekatemon had been trying to tear them apart. Blood was dripping from her claws, clearly Hekatemon's.  
  
The girl was breathing heavily. Her hair was noticeably thinner, but not as much as Hekatemon's. An alarmingly big clump of the Moon Digimon's hair was in her hand, along with some accidental pieces of Silvermon's fur. She had some slashes from her enemy, and her dress wasn't looking great, but it was clear she wasn't dying or anything. Just exhausted.  
  
John was staring, whilst Sagittariusmon's mouth was hanging open. It looked like the ultimate girl-fight of the century had just ended.  
  
Hekatemon tried to take off, but with her torn wings, it was hard for her to go high enough and fast enough. Silvermon balanced on her hind legs longs enough to knock her out of the air with one paw. The dark Digimon was just getting to her feet when she felt someone grab her.  
  
Looking up, she was just in time to see Mary lift her hand, before the girl slapped her across the right cheek. The shock paralysed her for an instant, but she heard Mary speaking, punctuating it with more slaps, "You think you can just waltz in here," SLAP! "Just take one of the Digidestined," SLAP! "hypnotise him," SLAP! "then say it's your `RIGHT`!" SLAP! "Well let me tell you something," SLAP! "we don't like people hypnotising us!" SLAP! "And now there's only one thing to do."  
  
The girl stepped away as Hekatemon sagged. Then she brought her leg up so high it was unnatural, kicking Hekatemon's jaw and knocking the Digimon's head back into the wall. Then she turned to her own Digimon, "Finish it."  
  
Silvermon looked at her with respect, then turned to the dark Digimon, "Ready to go?" Hekatemon looked at her in horror, and the cat Digimon reared onto her back legs, "Return to the shadows from which you came. Runes of Silver!"  
  
Silver light shot out of the runes on her armour and hit Hekatemon. For a moment, it looked like she was just going to survive. Then Sagittariusmon stepped up next to Silvermon, "Oh no you don't. Centaur's Star Arrow!"  
  
He drew out one of the arrows from his quiver and fitted it to his bow. As he drew it back, pure white light began to gather in it, until he fired a glowing mass of arrow at Hekatemon. It pierced her straight through the heart. There was a scream, then she exploded.  
  
Mary sighed, than gave into exhaustion and fell backwards. There was a grunt as a pair of hands stopped her, "Mary, you need to go on a diet."  
  
She blinked, then leapt up and turned around. John gasped slightly, massaging his wrists. Then he gave an involuntary yelp as Mary suddenly picked him up and hugged him, "Yes! You're OK! It worked!"  
  
John tapped her back, "Can't... Breathe..."  
  
She blinked, "Oh, right." Then she dropped him onto the floor.  
  
"YEEOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"  
  
She looked down at him, "Oops."  
  
Silvermon laughed. Then she began to glow, and shrunk down to about an eighth of her size. She was now about the size of a ball, and similarly shaped. Four tiny legs grew out of her sides in an arrangement that would let her move, and a tiny cattish tail grew out of her back. She looked like she was carved out of stone, but if so, highly polished black stone. She blinked at Mary, "Hi! I'm Coalmon, the in-training form of Silvermon! I may not look like much, but my Coal Duster strikes fear into the hearts of any Digimon who prides themselves on appearance!"  
  
Mary stared, "Silver, Diamond, Jewel, COAL? How the HECK does that work?"  
  
"Coal's of the same type. It's a rock, and it comes out of the ground. Just doesn't look as pretty," John pointed out.  
  
"I hate to interrupt this interesting discussion," Sagittariusmon stepped between them, "but I only have five more minutes with you. The balance's been thrown off now she's gone, and the Star needs to be passed on."  
  
The boy stared at him, "Hekatemon said something about a `Star`. Is that what this has all been about?"  
  
The Starsign Digimon sighed, "Yes. She hoped to use you to gain it and its power. Only a Digidestined of its constellation can have it, you see."  
  
Mary squealed, "Ooh, the Zodiac Circle! Cool! What sign?"  
  
Sagittariusmon looked at her, then began to walk towards the altar, "Let's see. Do you really think I'd be guarding a Star of Pisces? It's Sagittarius."  
  
The Digidestined were following him (Coalmon was checking on Mythicmon), but at that John stopped. The centaur carried on walking, but he looked back at him, "Yes. It's your Starsign, John. And it was Izzy's too. That's part of the reason Hekatemon was here. Something. HAPPENED between her and the previous Keeper of Knowledge, and she was waiting for you to follow. But as it is, she is dead, and you receive the Star."  
  
He'd reached the altar by now, and picked up the ever-changing candle. He positioned it in his hand so that the fame flickered against the wall, but instead of charring it, the wall began to melt away. Then a blast of pure white light swept out from the hole that had formed, blinding all of them for a second. Somehow, it recharged Mythicmon's `batteries`, as well as mending Mary's dress and healing the scratches she'd gained in the battle.  
  
When it had faded, Sagittariusmon reached inside the hole and drew out a glowing mass of... light. In his other hand, the flame flickered out, and the candle dissolved into dust. Then the Starsign Digimon held out the mass to John, "Take it. Don't tell anyone else about it, until it's time. You'll know when that is. You'll be told."  
  
Hesitantly, John reached out, and closed his hand over Sagittariusmon's. Instantly, the light returned, only a thousand times brighter. The entire chamber was filled with it, and then it began to shoot down tunnels, exploding out of the entrance. Even Sagittariusmon stared in awe, before they all blacked out.  
  
**************************************************************************** **  
  
John came to at the edge of the forest of thorns, along with Mary, Mythicmon and Coalmon. Strangely, Sagittariusmon was not with them.  
  
Looking up, the first thing he saw... or rather, DIDN'T see... was the graveyard. In its place was a charred wasteland, sparks of light still jumping around at random points. Looking down at his hand, he could see that he was clutching the Star. Its light had dimmed slightly, but it still hurt to look at it. He stuffed it into his pocket as he heard his friends moving.  
  
Maybe Sagittariusmon WAS gone. But he could at least obey his last command: `Don't tell anyone else about it, until it's time. You'll know when that is. You'll be told...`  
  
WHAT IS THE SECRET OF THE STAR? AND WHY DID HEKATEMON THINK JOHN BELONGED TO HER? FIND OUT ON THE NEXT DIGIMON: DIGITAL MONSTERS!  
  
Author's Note: And so ends the longest Digimon episode I have ever written. I mean, before, I think the longest was 10 or so pages. And now I have one 16 pages long. #German accent # Wunderbar!  
  
Anyway, you may notice some of the quotes from the last episode were not here. That's mainly because this episode has taken over 6 months to write and therefore my ideas have changed loads. I've tried, but the last few quotes had to be cut out.  
  
A few random notes to answer most question: No, I don't know when Izzy's birthday is. I just gave him and John the same Starsign. John's birthday WAS going to be 25th December, but Sis tells me that, whilst Sagittarius IS a December sign, Capricorn's the Christmas one. And I sooooooooo didn't want to edit everything about Sagittariusmon so that he could be Capricornmon. I'd nearly finished, you see.  
  
Next, the Star. I am aware that stars are balls of gas and are way to big to hold, but this is a SPECIAL Star. There will be more about it in... 10 episodes or so. Heh heh...  
  
You may notice that at the end of the `girl-fight` (those who know me probably know that I call it a stronger name), it says that Mary brings `her leg up so high it was unnatural`. For those of you who can't wait a few episodes to find out, it really is unnatural. It's practically straight up, ya see. How? Simple. She has John Cleese legs. If you don't know what that means, I recommend you find out.  
  
There's probably more glitches, but I feel those are the main ones that need to be dealt with. Any more, just say, and I will give you an answer. There's just the quotes left for the next episode now, so I'll be saying Arreviderchi (how do you spell that), Auf Wiedersien (or whatever), Adios, Au Revoir, See ya!  
"Sometimes I'm scared that V's going to leave me soon. Like in my dream..."  
  
"`The union of Courage and Love was broken by denial. Only their descendants can reconnect it...`"  
  
"She STILL can't tell! Has this girl ever heard of denial?"  
  
"Entering Praying Mantis mode... NOW!"  
  
"Oooooo... Ultimates..."  
  
"Oh wonderful. I hate bats."  
  
"This is like a Buffy episode gone wrong..."  
  
"Don't worry Digidestined... You'll be dead soon enough..."  
  
Episode 23: Dreams and Nightmares  
Lady Moon  
  
P.S. I haven't check through this, so say if there are any mistakes!  
  
L.M. 


	23. Dreams and Nightmares

Dreams and Nightmares  
  
*She was running... She didn't know where and she didn't know why, she just knew that she was. Inside her head, V gave her directions, and every time she turned, the place she had avoided seemed to suddenly produce a monster. It was only thanks to V that she hadn't run into one.  
  
Then the voice in her head seemed to disappear. She stopped and looked around, but there was nothing, except for a faint light fading away behind her, as if it was running away.  
  
Then a blind panic came on her, and she started running again. Only this time there were no directions. Looking behind her, hoping to see something other than darkness and monsters, she smacked straight into one.  
  
Looking up, it was all she could do to stifle her screams. She didn't see any particular shape, but she somehow knew this was the worst of the lot. Something shadowy came towards her, but it was so dark she couldn't see.  
  
It was coming closer and closer, and instinctively she knew that if it touched her, her life would end...*  
  
**************************************************************************  
  
"VIOLET!" Her eyes snapped open. She was lying in, of all things, a BED! She hadn't been in one since she came to the Digiworld, so for a moment all her attention was on that. Then her vision focused on someone (or something) kneeling on top of her. Their hands were gripping her shoulders, so they were probably who had been calling out to her.  
  
The girl squinted. The person (?) had quite long, blood red hair, which was currently flowing over the bed, almost touching the floor. Their face looked concerned, light blue eyes looking closely at her. They were wearing a flowing blue dress that stopped just above their knees, and she could see a pair of blue and gold sandals lying near the bed. But easily the most surprising thing about them was the pair of blue, gold, and slightly red butterfly wings growing out of their back.  
  
The... person? Digimon? Smiled at her, "Good, you're awake. That was a pretty bad dream you were having. Nightmare, in fact."  
  
Violet sat up slightly, so that she was leaning back on her elbows. The thing (?) moved back to the end of the bed, then knelt down, legs crossed behind them, hands in her lap, wings erect. The girl stared, "Are you... a Digimon?"  
  
They grinned, "Sure am! I'm Dreammon, an Ultimate Digimon with the power to see and give dreams! My Dreaming Star isn't that blissful though, and unless you stay on my good side, my Sleeping Beauty will make sure you never have a problem sleeping!"  
  
Violet smiled slightly, then looked around, "OK, three things: 1) You are a female, right?, 2) What am I doing here?, and 3) Where's Pearlmon?"  
  
Dreammon ticked the answers off on her fingers, "In order, of course I am, long story, and through the door, lying in front of the fire. Devoted pyromaniac, your Digimon."  
  
"Well, she is a fire Digimon."  
  
"Really? With all those flames, I'd never noticed."  
  
Violet's smile widened, "Ah, it's so nice to hear proper sarcasm once more from a female who isn't me. Mary's been so freaked out about the Digiworld that she hasn't been that sarcastic since we got here."  
  
Dreammon raised her eyebrows, before getting off the bed, "OK, do you want me to go whilst you get washed. Because, no offence, you really stink."  
  
The girl blushed slightly, before looking around and spotting a doorway which led to, of all things, a bathroom, "Um, yeah. But you can talk to me if you like."  
  
"Sure."  
  
*************************************************************************  
  
Steve glared at his... `companion`, "Mike, will you just shut up?"  
  
Mike stared straight ahead, "How can I shut up if I haven't said anything?"  
  
"You did."  
  
"Didn't."  
  
"Did."  
  
"Didn't."  
  
"Did."  
  
"Didn't."  
  
"Did."  
  
"Didn't."  
  
"Did."  
  
"Didn't."  
  
"Did."  
  
"Didn't."  
  
Mike's crest glowed slightly, ^ "Will you two cut it out already?" ^  
  
Steve glared at it, "Oh, so sorry your highness. I didn't realise you were royalty."  
  
^ "What's your problem?" ^  
  
The blonde looked away, "Nothing."  
  
^ "Oh, sure. Nothing, my wing." ^  
  
The blonde growled in a scarily primal and threatening way. WingSerpentmon got the hint, and shut up. Mike did too, whilst the Digimon gave the leader- or rather, ex-leader-until-further-notice-a scared look. Maybe it was just them, but Steve was getting... Snappish? Scary? Freaky? Whatever it was, they hoped he'd stop being it soon.  
  
**************************************************************************  
  
Dreammon sat on the edge of the bed, listening to the sound of water running. She hadn't mentioned anything yet, but she was eager to discuss everything in the dream. Even if she didn't want to, dreams leapt out at her, so it was hard not to know what they were about. Even though Violet's didn't really count as a dream. More like a really bad nightmare.  
  
Hearing the water being turned off, she spoke, "You often have that dream?"  
  
"Not really," Violet's voice drifted through the door, "But I've been having it more often than I should. I mean, dreams don't really repeat themselves a lot, right?"  
  
"Not normally. But important ones can."  
  
The door opened, and Violet walked back in, looking distinctively cleaner, as well as wetter. Her hair was hanging in strands all around her face, giving her the impression of a wet dog. Only she smelt better.  
  
Dreammon cocked her head slightly, "Oh, very attractive."  
  
Violet didn't say anything. She seemed to be looking past the Digimon, into somewhere only she could see. Then she blinked and snapped back into focus, "Huh? Oh, right. Um..." She was getting flustered. That much was obvious. There was a long pause, before, "So... What do you want? I mean, I'm guessing you want SOMETHING, because... er..."  
  
(LM: Blame this on Dad! He kept telling me to write through my writer's block!)  
  
Dreammon blinked, before smiling, "Well, I wouldn't mind..." She paused, letting it sink in. She always hated having to repeat herself, "...Knowing who V was."  
  
*************************************************************************  
  
John had to work hard to suppress his urge to scream, "Mary?"  
  
His friend paused in her very strange dance, "Yeah?"  
  
He pointed at her, "What exactly are you doing?"  
  
She looked at him as if he was nuts, "You don't know what the `Follow the Leader` dance is?"  
  
"The WHAT?"  
  
"You know? `Follow the leader, leader, leader, follow the leader, OOO-OOO!" At the `OOO-OOO`, she spun around.  
  
He buried his face in his hands, "Mary?" he repeated.  
  
"Yeah?"  
  
"Four things: Shut. Up. And. Move."  
  
The girl blinked at him, but chose not to point out the Shrek-ness of his statement. Now, judging by his expression, was not the time.  
  
As they started walking again, he asked, "Where do people actually do that anyway?"  
  
"At parties, mostly."  
  
"Ex-CUSE me?"  
  
She gave him a surprised look, "You know? Party? P-A-R-T-Y? Party: noun. A place where people have fun..." She peered closely at him, "Actually, maybe you don't know."  
  
"MARY?"  
  
She flinched at the volume, "Yeah?"  
  
"SHUT UP!!!!!!!!!!!"  
  
*************************************************************************  
  
Violet stared at Dreammon, "Wh-Who?"  
  
"V. You know, that person, or whatever, that was giving you the directions in your dream."  
  
There was silence. Violet frantically thought to V, 'OK, we're busted. HOW THE HECK AM I GOING TO EXPLAIN THIS TO HER? OR JUST NOT TELL HER?'  
  
~ 'Don't worry,' ~ responded V's strangely calm `voice`. Now there was something Violet hadn't noticed: V's voice was changing. It didn't sound like hers anymore. Was that good? ~ 'Dreammon's a good Digimon. After all, her name is `Dream`, not `Nightmare`.' ~  
  
Her mouth opened and shut like a goldfish's, making some... INTERESTING sounds, "Wey... upu... mah..."  
  
Dreammon gave her an odd look, "WHAT?"  
  
V sighed, ~ 'Look, why don't I tell her?' ~  
  
Then, it happened again. V slid into Violet's mind, and took over. She looked coolly at the Dream Digimon, "V's me."  
  
The Digimon's eyes widened slightly, and her eyebrows went up. You see, V's new voice was affecting the way Violet spoke as V too, so it was kind of easy to tell something was going on. Her mouth opened slightly, "You're a possessor?"  
  
V crossed `her` arms, "Not by choice. I wouldn't normally, but I have to help in someway. It's the only contact I have with the physical world now."  
  
Dreammon looked down, at the space on the bed next to her, "You want to sit down? It'd be easier to talk."  
  
The possessor-not-by-choice sat in the chosen area, "So. What do you want to know?"  
  
"For starters, are you human in any way?"  
  
She shook `her` head, "Nope. Digimon."  
  
"Name?"  
  
"Can't tell. Some Digimon would want to make sure I never got out."  
  
"Powerful enemies then?"  
  
V smiled slightly, "Only about every single evil Digimon in the Digiworld."  
  
Dreammon leaned back slightly, alarmed, "Yikes. How old are you, exactly?"  
  
V sighed, "I dunno. Violet's eleven, and I've been in her all that time. I only revealed myself when she was two though."  
  
"How come?"  
  
"Didn't want to influence her too much, plus I wanted to keep myself secret, so I waited until she knew how to walk and talk, and knew about keeping secrets. Anyway, so that's eleven years, plus at least fifty since the last Digidestined came to the Digiworld, plus Godsermon only knows HOW long."  
  
Dreammon did some mental calculations, including a lot of lines, "So. Were you one of the First-born Digimon?"  
  
V nodded. That was the term for the first Digimon created, "Yep."  
  
"Which group, if you can't do names?"  
  
"Worldly Trio."  
  
Dreammon stared, "Blimey. You're ANCIENT."  
  
"Thanks a lot."  
  
"No, really. The Worldly Trio disappeared over three billion years ago. I heard two of them managed to come back though. They'd split apart into two separate Digimon each, but they came back."  
  
"Wow." V looked down, "They did it. Even... Even the creator."  
  
The dream Digimon raised an eyebrow at the wistful tone of V's voice, "More than friendship between the two of you?"  
  
V pressed `her` index fingers together, in obvious embarrassment, "Well, I know it sounds weirder for Digimon than for humans, but... I think we were in love."  
  
The Digimon stared at her. Love lives weren't a common as you might think between Digimon, and she'd thought they didn't even exist billions of years ago. Then she looked away, "Speaking of love... You do know the prophecy, right? About Violet and..." she trailed off.  
  
She smiled, "Yeah. I was there when they were being written, remember? Or at least, being finished."  
  
"Yeah, thought so. So you know the line...? The one where it really says it clear...?"  
  
V nodded, and recited, "`The union of Courage and Love was broken by denial. Only their descendants can reconnect it.`"  
  
"That's the one. So. Any hope yet?"  
  
She groaned, "It's so obvious they like each other! Everyone's noticed except them! She STILL can't tell! Has this girl ever heard of denial?"  
  
Dreammon raised her eyebrows at the outburst, "Annoying you?"  
  
"YES!"  
  
The Digimon raised her hands slightly in a defensive way, "Sorry. Didn't realise it was that bad."  
  
V groaned again. It was VERY bad. She didn't know how, but this relationship was crucial to her release. And boy, was it giving her a headache...  
  
Dreammon gave her a sympathetic smile, "It's OK. You can let Violet take over now, if it's too much."  
  
She fell back on the bed, and felt Violet's consciousness rising to the surface once more...  
  
***************************************************************************  
  
Steve kicked a pebble. There was no real reason for this, other than to satisfy his growing need to kick something. Of course, this didn't give him a reason to kick a poor, defenceless pebble. There were, after all, a whole variety of things to kick around him. There were trees (no, not satisfying really. No reaction), Digimon (no, he liked that foot), and Mike. Oh yes, MIKE! He could've kicked Mike's-  
  
(Freeze-frame)  
  
Digimon Empress Mimi: LADY! Just WHAT do you think you're writing?  
  
Lady Moon: Oops. Too much Terry Pratchett.  
  
DEM: Then FIX IT!  
  
LM: OK, OK...  
  
(End freeze-frame. Rewind)  
  
Steve kicked a pebble. It made a very satisfying noise as it clattered away. As he looked back, he was reminded that he was walking with...MIKE. He would call him by his last name, like all good rivals, but he couldn't remember what it was. Only that it started with `C`. Ah well.  
  
Turning back, he kicked another pebble. This one sailed through the air, before hitting a tree, which (for reasons best known to itself) bent back slightly, before flinging it back at the group. Steve, because he was positioned perfectly to notice, was able to duck. Mike (or `C`) was not so lucky.  
  
It hit him perfectly on the forehead. Ow.  
  
Bending over, massaging his forehead, he saw Steve looking back, laughing. Forgetting the pain instantly, he snarled and pounced.  
  
***************************************************************************  
  
Violet blinked at Dreammon, "Let me get this straight: V is a Digimon?"  
  
The Digimon nodded, "Yep."  
  
"One of the first Digimon IN EXISTENCE?"  
  
"Yep."  
  
"She can either preserve or heal?"  
  
"Yep."  
  
"She was in love with another member of her `group`, called `The Worldly Trio?"  
  
"Yep."  
  
There was a long pause, then, "SHE'S OVER THREE BILLION YEARS OLD??????"  
  
Dreammon winced, "Um... Yep."  
  
The girl fell backwards, almost squashing her Digimon (who had finally risen), "Oh boy..."  
  
***************************************************************************  
  
Mary raised an eyebrow, "Do you hear something?"  
  
"Huh?" John had his hands over his ears, trying to block out her singing.  
  
"Do you hear something?"  
  
"Pardon?"  
  
"Do you-" She looked down at him, and scowled. Ripping his hands away from his ears, pinning his arms by his sides and leaning close to him, she screamed, "DO YOU HEAR SOMETHING??????????"  
  
He winced, "Yes. Your screaming."  
  
She released him, before covering his mouth with one hand, and pointing the other in the air. Finally, John heard the sounds of some kind of fight. There were barely audible slaps, kicks, punches, and groans, as well as some more audible pleads for peace.  
  
Mary removed her hand and raised an eyebrow at him, "Well?"  
  
He looked at her, "Sounds like Steve and Mike are at it again."  
  
***************************************************************************  
  
Violet looked up at the sky as she walked along. Dreammon had `set her loose` on the Digiworld, without explaining anything.  
  
Stupid Digimon.  
  
V, of course, wouldn't say a thing about who she was, and what she was doing in Violet's head.  
  
Stupid V.  
  
~ 'Hey! Watch the insults!' ~  
  
'...'  
  
~ 'Um... Hello? Violet? Are you receiving me?' ~  
  
'...'  
  
~ 'OK, OK, I'm sorry! I couldn't tell you, or else-' ~  
  
'OR ELSE WHAT???? V, YOU LIED! YOU LIED ABOUT EVERYTHING!!! EVEN HOW LONG YOU'VE BEEN IN MY HEAD!!'  
  
~ '.Ouchies.' ~  
  
'AH HA! A WEAKNESS! MWAHAHAHAH!!!'  
  
~ 'I was wondering when you were going to start the evil laughs again. Now, it seems.' ~  
  
*********************************************************************  
  
Mary blinked as she and John emerged on the sight of yet another Steve And Mike Fight. For a moment, she just watched as Steve hit Mike with a particularly fine right hook, before getting knocked to the floor by an uppercut.  
  
'How the heck do I suddenly know the names of the punches?' she wondered, before dismissing it, and holding up her hands, "Hey! HEY! Can't you guys EVER just leave each other alone?"  
  
There was a silence, as Mike glanced at her and Steve looked up from his current resting-place, both with a scarily identical look of embarrassment on their faces. Then John spoiled the moment as he coughed, and muttered, "This place is like a graveyard. Only with more people who are alive."  
  
Mary snorted in a way which would have made the Queen look scandalised, as Mike started chuckling softly and Steve fought hard to stop the smile spreading over his face.  
  
Mike's crest glowed, ^ "I missed the funny part of that comment." ^  
  
Mary blinked at it, "Mike?"  
  
He raised his eyebrows, "Yeah?"  
  
"Your crest is talking."  
  
"I know."  
  
"This... isn't disturbing?"  
  
"Nope. He talks a lot."  
  
"WHO does?"  
  
"WingSerpentmon."  
  
There was a very long pause. Then Mary muttered, "Oh right," before crumpling to the floor.  
  
****************************************************************************  
  
He could taste their blood, but he couldn't have it. The overpowering scent threatened to drown him, but he resisted... just. If he was good, maybe he would be allowed to have some. But the best, the purest blood would go to his master.  
  
He bared his teeth, the smell of human blood filling him...  
  
****************************************************************************  
  
Steve bent over the girl, "Mary? Mary, are you OK? Hellooooooo?"  
  
Mike rolled his eyes, "Oh, sure, THAT will wake her up. Extended vowels ALWAYS wake up girls who have just fainted."  
  
The blonde straightened up and glared at Mike, "Hey, at least I'm TRYING... er..." He paused, looking as if he was thinking, before pointing at the boy, "What's your surname?"  
  
Mike blinked, "Huh?"  
  
"YOUR SURNAME. PLEASE."  
  
"Um. Carey. Why?"  
  
"OK. At least I'm TRYING, Carey! Which is more than YOU'RE doing!"  
  
Mike glared. It is a little known fact that calling a guy by his surname is a good way of declaring yourselves rivals. Instinctively, Mike slid into the pose known from here on as the Cowboy Pose. Basically, you stand in a relaxed position (the one you tend to slump in), with your hands raised slightly. This is called the Cowboy Pose because of the hands. They're ready to grab a gun, you see?  
  
It was quite clear that a fight was about to erupt, when a snarl wound its way through the trees. When everyone (except Mary, for obvious reasons) jerked their heads around to look where it had come from, they saw a stormy- grey wolf break out of the foliage. His teeth seemed a little sharper, his eyes strangely human, but he was still a wolf.  
  
He growled, "I am Lycamon, a Digimon with two forms. In my wolf form, I attack with Wolf Bite, whilst my human form attacks with Wolf's Ice!"  
  
Growls emitted from more places, from which more Lycamon emerged, until the Digidestined and Co. were trapped in a circle of them. Steve swallowed, "This doesn't look very good..."  
  
Mike rolled his eyes, "No, really? What was your first clue?"  
  
If only to shut the guys up, the Digimon leapt/flew forwards, "Snowmon digivolve to Icemon!"  
  
"Snakemon digivolve to Firepentmon! Firepentmon digivolve to Serpentmon!"  
  
"Mythicmon digivolve to Phoenixomon!"  
  
****************************************************************************  
  
Violet looked up, "Hey, Pearlmon, did you hear that?"  
  
Pearlmon did her version of pouting, "That's unfair. They started a fight without us. Makes you feel unwanted."  
  
The girl grinned, "OK, OK, I get the idea. Onward, my knight!"  
  
"Eh?"  
  
"Just go, already!"  
  
****************************************************************************  
  
"WAAAAAAAAGH!"  
  
A little known fact is that waking up to a bunch of Wolf Digimon is not good for the easily scared. Therefore, Mary's reaction was perfectly justified.  
  
Then, inevitably: "Jewelmon, digivolve!"  
  
"Jewelmon digivolve to Diamondmon!"  
  
At this point, the fight became that which reminds you of Braveheart, Star Wars and Lord of the Rings. Unfortunately, though, there was a complete absence of Scottish accents, lightsabers, THE DARK SIDE OF THE FORCE (Mary, for all her squeamishness, would have liked a bit of this. In some, she found, it was rather attractive), adorable hobbits, or extremely hot guys. At least, Mary said the guys in Lord of the Rings were hot. Which ones, however, was debatable.  
  
But, back to the action.  
  
Icemon was having fun trying to freeze more than one Digimon at a time. Serpentmon was joining in the more-than-one theme by using his considerable length to wind together three to five Lycamon, whilst Phoenixomon and Diamondmon were going for a tag-team effect, one rounding up the Digimon, the other disposing of them.  
  
Unfortunately, though, the Lycamon were that annoying type of Digimon that never seem to stop coming. It was Mike who decided to help their Digimon, perhaps a little belatedly.  
  
"Mike digimorph to Tigermon!"  
  
So, let us review the combatants: God-only-knows-how-many Lycamon, a strange ice-beast, a way-too-long snake, a phoenix, a mutated cat, and a mad tiger. The strangest part was that there was nothing strange about this.  
  
Two of the enemy had managed to break through to the Digidestined, but one burst into flames, whilst the other was driven to the ground by a girl jumping on top of it in true martial arts style.  
  
Mary grinned, more with relief than anything else, "Violet!"  
  
****************************************************************************  
  
At last. They were together. It had taken them long enough. Now he could take them all together, in one nice little package...  
  
****************************************************************************  
  
Violet blinked as one group of Lycamon were consumed by light, before revealing humans, with some characteristics taken from the wolves. Longer hair, sharper teeth, longer, sharper nails, you get the idea.  
  
"Okaaaaaay. Well, look on the positive side!"  
  
Mary groaned, "What positive side???"  
  
"Simple. It's possible to do the Robin Hood: Men in Tights Praying Mantis on humanoids. With wolves, it's a little difficult."  
  
"An excellent point! Shall we?"  
  
"Of course." At this, the two girls moved back to back to each other. Steve and John, recognising danger when they saw it, moved away.  
  
As they lifted their hands into fighting positions, Violet called out, "Entering Praying Mantis mode... NOW!"  
  
They began to make strange noises (you know, the ones associated with Japanese fighting. `HAW`s mostly), before Violet lashed out with a leg to kick a Lycamon in his... SENSITIVE area.  
  
Then they began to do series of moves, kicking out, punching, all of the time making the same strange noises (LM: for a better picture, see `Robin Hood: Men in Tights`, a Mel Brooks film. He. Is. GOOD!). Soon, the humanoid Lycamon were all lying on the ground, unconscious, before their Digimon finished them off.  
  
Whilst everyone was still staring at this, there was a cry of pain and Tigermon was blasted back. As he hit the ground, he began to glow, changing back to Mike. He sat up, rubbing his head, before glaring at the offending Lycamon, "That does it. Now it's personal."  
  
"Serpentmon digivolve to WingSerpentmon!"  
  
Diamondmon grinned, not wanting to be left out, "Diamondmon digivolve to Silvermon!"  
  
Violet clapped her hands together, "Oooooo... Ultimates..."  
  
Icemon decided that he might as well join in too, "Icemon digivolve to... Icemon digivolve to... Huh?" He looked back at his partner, "Steve, I can't digivolve!"  
  
Steve stared, before pulling out his crest. The ones which had been activated, he'd noticed, had a glow around them even when they weren't being used. His, however, had lost it.  
  
Violet noticed the situation, "Um, Mary? Steve's crest isn't glowing."  
  
Mary blinked, "Eep."  
  
"My thoughts exactly."  
  
The general opinion, in fact, was that of eep-iness. Non-glowing crests that SHOULD be glowing were never good signs. Then a voice came from behind the legions of Lycamon, still not being knocked back, despite the added efforts of two Ultimates.  
  
"What's the problem? It makes destroying you SO much easier."  
  
As this voice echoed around, the Lycamon began to move back, forming a type of pathway. Then another Digimon began to move down it.  
  
He looked like a grown man in his mid-twenties, maybe early thirties, dressed in a very respectable-looking black suit, with gold buttons. His shoes were black too, with golden buckles, and had obviously just been polished. A cloak flowed out behind him as he walked, red on the inside, black on the outside, and his eyes were a piercing brown. However, the scariest part was around his mouth. Two long, sharp teeth hung out, looking as if they wanted nothing more than to bite someone.  
  
He was a vampire.  
  
One of the human-shaped Lycamon smiled, "Nightmaremon is our master and the Lord of Trojan. He can attack with Vampire Bat, and Nightmare traps you in a real live one!"  
  
The vampire Digimon smiled, before holding up both of his hands, thumbs linked, "Vampire Bat!"  
  
A bat, shaped from pure black energy, shot out, striking Flakemon. The Digimon screamed in pain as she receded to Pearlmon. Violet whipped out her sword, as Mary whimpered, "Oh wonderful. I hate bats."  
  
Violet shook her head, "It gets better. He's a vampire, and we're minus a Slayer. Who has the advantage? Him, of course."  
  
"This is like a Buffy episode gone wrong."  
  
Next to them, Steve sighed, "No point in fighting. The Digimon are too tired."  
  
Mike glared, "Well, aren't you courageous? Come on Steve, it's worth a try."  
  
"Is it worth them risking their lives? Mike, the Lycamon were sent here to exhaust us. They succeeded. The best we can do is drive him off long enough. So sorry if your honour won't take it, but we don't have a choice."  
  
For a moment, the two boys just glared at each other, each trying to think of a way to turn the other to his point of view. Then a familiar golden light began to consume Steve's crest and Icemon...  
  
"Icemon digivolve to Blizzardmon!"  
  
Nightmaremon's eyes widened, "WHAT?"  
  
The ice beast smiled, before charging forwards, "Blizzard Triangle!"  
  
The attack forced the vampire back. Steve looked up, "Silvermon, WingSerpentmon! Try and get him from the sides!" The two Digimon nodded, before moving in.  
  
"Wing Flame!"  
  
"Silver Beam!"  
  
This time, Nightmaremon leapt straight upwards. Phoenixomon didn't wait for Steve's command, "Phoenix Fire!"  
  
As the flames neared, he swept his cloak around him and was consumed by the same dark energy that formed his bat. He began to shrink, and when the energy vanished, a bat flew away.  
  
However, there was still the matter of the million Lycamon. Blizzardmon flew up, beginning to glow. Steve yelped as he recognised the beginnings of an extremely cold attack. Looking at the others, he said, "Hang on guys. It's going to get chilly."  
  
Violet was about to ask why, when Blizzardmon answered in his own way, "Freezing Storm!"  
  
As the snow began to fall and the icy wind began to circulate, Violet grabbed Pearlmon from the ground. Mmm... Nice warm flames...  
  
Mary put a hand on Pearlmon too, muttering about sleeveless dresses, whilst John warmed himself using Phoenixomon's strange central heating, and WingSerpentmon settled next to Steve and Mike. The Lycamon, however, had no such warmth, and began to freeze into statues.  
  
Once Blizzardmon had finished, the place was filled with ice statues. Violet and Mary exchanged glances, before Violet cautiously pushed the closest one. It fell back and shattered. Now they exchanged evil grins, before...  
  
"WHEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!" They started running around, shoving the ice blocks over. Ah, the sadistic pleasure of destroying things.  
  
The fire Digimon began to melt the remaining ones, whilst Blizzardmon and Silvermon blasted them apart. Once again, the advantages of winter were shown.  
  
****************************************************************************  
  
Nightmaremon leant back in his chair, watching the screen that showed the winter massacre, as he thought of it. Then he clicked his fingers, and the picture changed, zooming in on the two oldest boys, Leadership and Protection. He was going to have fun with them...  
  
His lips twisted into a smile, "Don't worry Digidestined... You'll be dead soon enough..."  
  
NOW THAT NIGHTMAREMON HAS REVEALED HIMSELF, WHAT WILL HIS PLANS BE? AND WHY DIDN'T STEVE'S CREST GLOW? FIND OUT ON THE NEXT DIGIMON: DIGITAL MONSTERS!  
  
Author's Notes: YAY! GO SUMMER HOLIDAYS! It gave me the time to finish! Now... Should I start the next episode or what? Hmm...  
  
Believe it or not, but this was actually going to be LONGER! There was meant to be a gap in between the Lycamon fight, and the Nightmaremon one! Good thing it was shortened, no?  
  
Also, I welcome any theories about things that happened in this: Violet's dream, why Steve's crest didn't glow, what additional powers Nightmaremon might have, etc. AND I NEED AN OPINION ON THE FIGHT! I think I'm losing my touch with writing, you see. I seem to always need to put in humour these days. WHY?  
  
Anyway, adios my fine amigos, and I hope to hear from you soon!  
  
"Violet... I know. About V, I mean..."  
  
"I'm not going to watch those two because I'm not jealous. I'm simply going to look THIS way..."  
  
"Gennai, what do you mean when you say `A sixth Digidestined`?"  
  
"Primary village! Fun!"  
  
"As far as I can tell, the seal on the egg is also a crest..."  
  
"Why can't evil Digimon ever stay in this world? Why do they have to come to ours?"  
  
"Mike... How come you're holding my crest?"  
  
"I'll have fun in your world, Digidestined!"  
  
"Guys, I've worked it out! We're going home..."  
  
Episode 24: A Digidestined and a Gateway  
  
Lady Moon 


	24. A Digidestined and a Gateway

A Digidestined and a Gateway  
  
Steve stared into the water, unable to get the thought out of his head. Closing his eyes, he listened to it again: 'Nightmaremon ran away from us, but he seemed more powerful than all of us. Why did he run? Did he want something? SomeONE?'  
  
His eyes snapped open again as someone tapped the back of his neck, "Steve?" Looking up, he saw Mary looking at him in concern, "You OK?"  
  
He nodded, standing up, "I'm fine. Just... A headache. That's all."  
  
Her eyes narrowed slightly, and for a moment it seemed like she was reading his mind. Then she closed her eyes and sighed, "OK. I was just worried about you, that's all." With that, she turned and walked away, leaving Steve with a rather confused expression on his face.  
  
'What was that all about?'  
  
****************************************************************************  
  
Nightmaremon lowered his book to regard his visitor, "Yes?"  
  
Warpmon shifted uncomfortably. Unlike her sisters, she found that piercing stare neither attractive nor commanding, but the scariest thing in the Digiworld. It made her feel like a mere Dozemon, pinned to ground. Therefore, her voice came out more as a stutter than anything else, "W- Well, V-Victormon just f-finished the r-r-..."  
  
She trailed off. Nightmaremon raised an eyebrow; "I don't remember telling our resident scientist to make an `r-r-`. Maybe a RAY, but not an `r-r-`. Maybe one of his ears wasn't on properly. The left one looked like it was dangling slightly."  
  
The main problem with Victormon was, in Nightmaremon's opinion, that he was indispensable. You couldn't get anyone else to do his job. That was a difficulty when he kept falling apart, often holding up the work for at least five minutes.  
  
Warpmon shook her head frantically, "N-no, he's just f-finished the r-ray."  
  
The vampire Digimon smiled, placing his book to one side and standing up, "Well, we'd best go and see it, hadn't we?" He walked past the still trembling Digimon and picked his cloak off the hook on the back of the door, "Might as well go in full dress."  
  
Suddenly, the full meaning of his words sunk into Warpmon's scared mind, "W- We?"  
  
"Of course. You brought me the news, after all. You deserve to see it." With that, he fastened the cloak around his neck, and swept out of the door.  
  
She hurried after him, for a moment wondering how he could move so fast. Her kind was one of the fastest in the Digiworld, yet he always somehow managed to remain ahead of her and her sisters.  
  
As she caught up, he looked down at her, "By the way, how are your sisters doing on tracking down the keys?"  
  
She looked down, "Middle has sent word that she is on her way back with the Oracle, whilst we have not heard from Eldest in a week or so." Since Digimon did not normally take on names, the three Warpmon sisters were always referred to as Eldest, Middle and Youngest. In conversation, it was the only way to tell them apart.  
  
Nightmaremon nodded, "Good. Make sure that I am told the instant either is sighted. Middle is to come to me the moment she gets here. Along with the Oracle."  
  
Youngest nodded. Then a sudden wave of nausea rolled over, and she stumbled. Images flashed into her mind, people, children. Digidestined.  
  
Her companion looked at her, not in concern, but curiosity, "My, whatever is the matter with you?"  
  
She fell to the ground, feeling as if something were sitting on her, trying to push her into the ground. The vampire Digimon calmly sat beside, his cloak spreading out behind him. Slowly, his trademark smile began to appear on his face, "So, this is what happens..."  
  
****************************************************************************  
  
Violet stared at the sky as she lay on her back. Inwardly, she said impatiently, 'Yo, V! You there? Hello?'  
  
After a moment's pause, she finally got a response, ~ 'Yes, I'm here. Sorry, but I was a bit busy.' ~  
  
'Doing WHAT? You live in my HEAD! What on Earth could you be doing? ...Oh God, DON'T answer that.'  
  
~ 'Your wish is my command.' ~  
  
'V, my memories had better be whole.'  
  
~ 'Not your memories.' ~  
  
Violet raised an eyebrow in confusion, even though V couldn't really see it, 'Then what.' Her eyes widened as she encountered a distinct memory she could've sworn she'd never had, 'V! YOU SAID NO MEMORIES-'  
  
~ 'No I didn't,' ~ V interrupted, sounding rather haughty, ~ 'I said that it wasn't to do with YOUR memories. MINE, however...' ~  
  
Violet gripped her head in her hands, "Too much information..." she whispered, "Too much information..."  
  
"About what?" asked a voice next to her.  
  
She blinked, before slowly turning her head to see Steve. There followed a long pause as she tried to remember if he'd been there before. After coming to conclusion that he must have appeared out of nowhere in the past three seconds (thus making him a ghost), she did the only possible thing.  
  
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGHHHHHH!!!!!!"  
  
Of course, when someone screams and you are maybe thirty centimetres away, you tend to be a bit shocked. So therefore, Steve was in no state to grab Violet before she jumped to her feet, started running down the hill, tripped over, and, to put it nicely, `ceased to run and started to fly`.  
  
After she crash-landed, Steve blinked several times, before looking over at the others. Screaming does tend to attract people, and now all of them were looking down at the crumpled heap. John winced, "That must have hurt."  
  
Mike looked over at Mary; "Does she normally do that?"  
  
"Yes and no, really. Yes, she does do that half the time, but no, not all of the time. The other half is spent chasing after a Lizzie that's just done the same."  
  
Steve sighed as he began to make his way down the hill, "Might as well see if she's OK."  
  
She was. Note the WAS. They met as she came up and he came down, and Violet's reaction wasn't any better; "AAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGHHHHHH!!!! THE GHOST!!!!!"  
  
So screaming, she lost her balance and fell backwards. Landing on a rock. There was going to be one mighty big bruise on her body, come the next day. For now, however, she contented herself with muttering swear-words that technically no eleven-year-old should know. But let us keep in mind that this is Violet Davies (current home of V), so really it wasn't that surprising.  
  
Steve sighed, "Violet, I'm not a ghost, OK? I just have a habit of moving quietly. That does not make me a ghost."  
  
"Oh." Needless to say, Violet now became a most admirable shade of red. Then she looked down, "Sorry."  
  
Steve squatted down next to her, "It's OK. I understand that V can make you a little jumpy."  
  
Violet nodded, not really taking in the full meaning of his words. Then they suddenly hit her, and she leapt up, "WHAAAAAAAAAT?"  
  
The boy sighed, before standing up and looking her straight in the eye, "Violet... I know. About V, I mean."  
  
Her mouth fell open, "What? How? I mean."  
  
He grabbed her shoulders and leant closer to her, "Violet, don't worry. That portal I got sucked in to after we beat Switchmon took me to a place called Digimon Limbo. I... I met V there."  
  
"You MET..."  
  
Further up, John was busying himself with a computer, Mary was sketching some Digimon from memory, but Mike was just watching. His eyes narrowed as he saw Steve lean closer to her, 'What does he think he's doing? He-' The boy stopped there, as he realised where his thoughts were leading him. Stubbornly, he turned away, "I'm not going to watch those two because I'm not jealous. I'm simply going to look THIS way..."  
  
Now, at this point, the author would like to point something out. Many things, unless they are fully noticed, lose their impact somewhat. So, at this point, she would like to point something out: At this moment in the story, there are several paths it may take. Steve might've moved closer still to Violet, Mike might have walked away, determined not to look. Who knows?  
  
So, now that we know of these situations, most of which involve emotions, let us continue.  
  
As Mike turned away, no doubt to mutter to himself about Steve, a loud scream filled the air. Then a swirling mass of scales, feathers and hair fell out of nowhere to crash down on the hill.  
  
John blinked, "That was unexpected."  
  
Mary looked down at her knuckles, which were white from gripping the pencil too tightly. "Oh yeah," she agreed, in a voice that was lucky that it was still in the normal scope of hearing.  
  
The mini-whirlwind had crashed into the ground, but it carried on spinning. Bits of fur, hair, feathers and scales flew out, as if the thing was ripping them off. One such scale hit John's computer with surprising speed.  
  
"MY COMPUTER!"  
  
Mike gave him an odd look, "Hello? It's a scale. Not very big on the whole deadly-to-computers thing."  
  
John leaned round to look at the computer where it had been hit, "BLOOD! THERE IS BLOOD ON MY COMPUTER! MY POOR COMPUTER!"  
  
It was at this point that Steve and Violet appeared at the top of the hill (having started their way up when the screaming started). The blonde looked over at his companion, "I don't know about you, but I'm going back down."  
  
Violet just raised an eyebrow, before going to Mary and trying to convince her to let go off the pencil; "Look, it's breaking! Do you have a spare? OK, maybe you do, but..."  
  
Steve sighed, walking over to the swirling mass. Mike joined him there, thanks to performing a similar motion. He raised an eyebrow at the leader, "Any ideas, Jones?"  
  
Strangely enough, this use of his last name did not have the normal effect on Steve (punching him). Instead, he ignored Mike and continued with a trick he'd learnt over time. Specifically, that of moving his eyes in the opposite direction to the way the swirl was moving, to slow it down slightly. He was just able to make out a body, with hands... claws? tearing at itself.  
  
Acting on instinct, something he rarely gave into, he lifted his hands and plunged them in, grabbing onto the first thing they came in contact with. Mike was just forming the words, "What are you doing?" when the mass stopped moving.  
  
Steve was hanging on to what looked like a snake's tail. However, the body it was connected to was not so much snake-like as cat-like, even though there were flashes of scales, feathers and even the odd bit of hair in between the fur. It had an impressive wingspan, easily two, maybe three metres long, but the feathers were interrupted in various places by the stretched skin of a dragon's wings. Its legs had a dragon's muscles, but the lion's fur strained to hold it in place. Its feet were a horrible mixture of a lion's paw, dragon's claws and a bird's talons. It had the trademark claw coming out of the back that belonged to a dragon, but at the front the talons and claws mixed, producing some strange collection of both. And its face. A mixture of a dragon's teeth, lion's head shape and a bird's eyes. Scales, feathers and fur fought for supremacy, whilst thick brown hair tried to grow from it, in between the strange tufts of feathers and a dragon's pointed ears, curving slightly under the lion's influence.  
  
Altogether, it was one of the most warped and twisted creatures ever to exist on any planet, in any universe.  
  
(LM: Sorry that description was so long. The whole idea of that particular Digimon is that if you can't picture it clearly, it loses its effect.)  
  
John's eyes widened, his attention finally leaving his computer, "Now THAT is one warped Digimon."  
  
The Digimon had stopped screaming now, but was now making a noise that sounded like sobbing. Violet glared at it, "For God's sake, shut up! That's no way for a Digimon to act, so stop it!"  
  
It was more proof of the true scariness that was Violet that the Digimon shut up almost instantly. However, her look was like a sad puppy. A sad, warped puppy. The mixture was a rather alarming one.  
  
Steve made a face, "OK, that does it. If strange, warped Digimon that attempt to look like puppies are what we're dealing with now, I resign."  
  
Mike raised an eyebrow, "Hey, Jones, one problem with that: WE can't resign."  
  
"Since when, Carey?"  
  
"Since forever. You never heard anything about Tai or Matt resigning now, did you?"  
  
"Then how come WE'RE the ones here Carey? Hmm? Why us and not them?" Steve dropped the `strange, warped Digimon` and crossed his arms.  
  
Mike frowned, "Jones, would you really ask a bunch of GRANDPARENTS to save the world?"  
  
"Happens all the time. You ever watch the news?"  
  
The raven-haired boy massaged his forehead, "I'm not even going to COMMENT on that..."  
  
"And besides, even if they couldn't, what about their kids? Why us grandkids? Heck, why us particular ones?"  
  
"You just don't believe in destiny and fate, do you?"  
  
"Why should I?" Steve's voice was beginning to get louder, and it was pretty obvious he was getting worked up, "They've never helped me. If anything, they're the ones responsible for every bad thing that's happened to me. You know what one of my earliest memories is?"  
  
"No!" Looked like Steve wasn't the only one getting worked up, "You know why not? Because you don't tell us!"  
  
"Oh, and you do?"  
  
Violet made a strange half-growl, half-moan noise. "Not again. Dear God, not again."  
  
The extremely-warped Digimon looked confused, "...D-Digidestined? But... You're all at the g-gate!" Suddenly it leapt up into the air, and started looking around frantically, "This isn't the Sister World! What's h- happened?"  
  
John raised an eyebrow, looking at it as if for the first time, "`Sister World`? Do you mean that as in Pern and the Red Star, Earth and Mars, or even the perfectly acceptable Earth and the Discworld?"  
  
Mary gave him an odd look, "PERN?"  
  
He gave the sky a despairing look, "You need more culture in your life."  
  
"CULTURE?"  
  
He gave her an odd look, "Are you a girl or an echo?"  
  
There was a long pause, "I would say `ECHO?`, but I wish to reserve some dignity. Instead," she turned to the Digimon, "I will ask you what you mean by `Sister World`."  
  
It whimpered, "The one... with your k-kind. P-people... Without powers or their own bonded D-Digimon..."  
  
Violet stared at it, "Nightmaremon's going to EARTH?"  
  
***********************************************************************  
  
Nightmaremon raised an eyebrow at the Digimon in front of him, "You are the Oracle." It wasn't a question.  
  
Her eyes rolled, "I was... I will be..."  
  
"You ARE," he emphasised. Even though her ability to see all times, past, present and future, was useful, he had no time for her confusing tenses.  
  
"Present?"  
  
"For now." Yes, he would want the others later, but for now the present would do.  
  
"...You are an ambitious Digimon. No one before has ever sought to capture us."  
  
He smiled, "That is what sets me above the others. My ambition."  
  
"It will destroy you." He raised an eyebrow. Future tense. This could prove to be useful.  
  
"What will?"  
  
"Your ambition. You seek to emerge from the shadow of the one before you, and for that you will pay the price. Your disciple will kill you."  
  
He chuckled, "My disciple? Why would I have a disciple?"  
  
"Your former self never did."  
  
No more humour now. That last remark had cut deep, "My former self? I have no former self! I am a new Digimon, he is gone forever!" She was pushing his patience, "Blood Thunder!"  
  
He lifted up his hands and blood-red lightning leapt from them, heading straight towards her heart. She just smiled, and lifted a hand, "Apollo's Protection."  
  
A small Sun formed in her palm, before moving forwards and growing larger. The attack smashed against it and dissipated, unable to break through. She smiled, "You hate yourself. Every time you attack, you can feel him. Your attacks are his."  
  
"Shut up!"  
  
"You'll go to the Sister World, of course. Just like he did."  
  
"Be quiet!"  
  
"You'll search for the other Digidestined. Just like he did."  
  
"Silence!"  
  
"Scream all you like. It won't change anything."  
  
Nightmaremon sighed, and then breathed deeply. Then his features settled back into their normal, calm expression, "You may be able to predict the future, Oracle, but it has not happened yet. It is changeable."  
  
She didn't seem worried, "Little details, such as what number of Lycamon you take with you, are subject to change. But the important ones-your fate, your disciple's identity, the Digidestined's fate-will remain as they are."  
  
He smiled, his teeth elongating, and he held out a hand, "Come then, Oracle. Let us see what part you have to play in my fate."  
  
***********************************************************************  
  
"Earth?" Steve asked, raising an eyebrow. "Isn't that a little unoriginal?"  
  
Violet smiled, "The same could be said of being a vampire Digimon."  
  
They'd all gathered around the `warped puppy`, and now they were considering the information they'd gleaned from it. "Original or unoriginal," John said decisively, "he's still a threat. We still don't know if he's vulnerable to the same things as traditional vampires."  
  
Mike raised an eyebrow, "Why wouldn't he be?"  
  
Mary grinned, "Well, for starters vampires that are resistant to crosses and such like are a heck of a lot scarier, and secondly, the data that made him might have decided to put in a different weakness. Fire or something."  
  
John glared at her, "Data doesn't think. It is a combination of zeroes and ones, designed to construct more complex things that possess artificial intelligence."  
  
There was a very, very long pause.  
  
"Huh?" Steve, Mike and Violet all had strangely similar looks of confusion on their faces.  
  
Mary rolled her eyes, "As far as I can tell, he meant that data's nothing but zeroes and ones, and therefore cannot think. It's a bit like Britney Spears, but with numbers instead of awful notes."  
  
Steve blinked, "Whoa, let's get this straight. You can understand what he just said?"  
  
Her mouth fell open, "Er... Yeah... I did..."  
  
Violet grinned, "Ladies and gentlemen: We have translator!"  
  
Mike raised an eyebrow, "Ladies and gentlemen: We have bad grammar!"  
  
Steve groaned, "Ladies and gentlemen: Please shut up!"  
  
Mike glared at him, "Steve, it's just a bit of fun."  
  
"Oh, oh sure. This is a GREAT time to be mucking around. There's a vampire Digimon on the loose, we have a warped puppy here, the said vampire is going to go to our world-"  
  
He might have gone on in this vein for quite some time, but luckily the warped puppy spoke, not realising it had interrupted, "I'm not meant to be here. I'm meant to be there..."  
  
John raised an eyebrow, "Yeah, you said."  
  
It didn't seem to hear him, "I'm meant to be helping the search for the sixth..."  
  
Mary leant forwards, "What? Sixth what?"  
  
"...Digidestined."  
  
They all exchanged glances. Then Violet crossed her arms, "What do you mean when you say `A Sixth Digidestined `?"  
  
Steve smiled, "Ever seen Power Rangers? There's always a sixth one." They all turned and gave him very odd looks, "What?"  
  
No response.  
  
"What?"  
  
Nothing.  
  
"WHAT?"  
  
Zip. Zero. Nada.  
  
"LOOK, MY SISTER LIKES THE SHOW, OK? IT'S NOT LIKE I TUNE IN EVERY WEEK OR ANYTHING!"  
  
Mike grinned, "Oh, it's alright, we understand." There was a pause, "Fanboy."  
  
"I AM NOT A FANBOY!"  
  
Violet developed an identical smile to Mike's, "Who do you think should lead then? The Power Rangers, I mean?"  
  
This seemed to shut Steve up. Then he appeared to think, "Either Frog-boy or Billy."  
  
John leant a bit closer to Mary, "`Frog-boy`?"  
  
She smiled, "I think he means the Black Power Ranger. He rides around in a frog-shaped thing."  
  
"...This is considered normal?"  
  
"To them, yes. To us, it just sounds and looks silly."  
  
Mike just pointed at Steve, "Fanboy, fanboy!"  
  
"Shut it!" Steve balled his hands into fists.  
  
Violet leant over to Mary, "You think we can get warped-puppy-mon to attack us?"  
  
Mary gave her an odd look, "Why would we want it to?"  
  
"Two reasons: One, it's been a while since the last fight and if we ever got made into a TV show, this would be very boring, and b, it'll shut those two up."  
  
John frowned, "Don't you mean one and two? Or a and b?"  
  
Violet glared at him, "Shut up." Then she bent down next to the `warped- puppy-mon`, "I say, could you please attack us?"  
  
It just blinked at her, its expression a mixture of that weird moping-puppy look and simple confusion, "W-What?"  
  
"Could you please attack us?"  
  
Now it looked very scared, "Y-You want me to attack you? Why? Do you j-just want to k-kill me?"  
  
John tapped Violet on the shoulder, "Let me try." Then he bent down so that he was at eye-level with the Digimon, "Well, I suppose you don't have to. I mean, sure Nightmaremon will probably kill you because you're in the perfect position but you're not doing anything, but..."  
  
"N-Nightmaremon?"  
  
He crossed his fingers behind his back, 'I hope this works.' Then he smiled, "Don't worry. It'll probably be quick... Wait, this is Nightmaremon. So. It'll be slow and painful."  
  
Its eyes widened. Then it leapt up and arched its back, cat style, "Scale Shot!"  
  
Several scales shot off its back, heading right at John. He ducked, muttering, "I will never know why I did that."  
  
Steve was just in the middle of a very detailed insult when he heard the attack. He turned around, "What the..."  
  
Mike's mouth dropped open, "It's attacking us?"  
  
It turned towards them and leapt into the sky, "Warped Claw!" It brought its strange `claw` down, diving towards the two boys. Firepentmon frowned.  
  
"Firepentmon digivolve to Serpentmon! Eye Fire!" His eyes glowed and fire shot out of them, whamming the warped-puppy-mon to the floor.  
  
Steve turned towards John, "OK, I give up with the whole `warped-puppy` thing. What IS that thing?"  
  
Still crouching, John pulled out his computer and started typing, "For starters, it's a she. Her name's Warpmon and it shows in her warped appearance. She attacks with Warped Claw, and with Warp Factor 9 she can travel at twice the speed of light." He rolled his eyes, "Guess that answers the question of whether the Digiworld has the same natural laws as Earth or not."  
  
Pearlmon grinned, "Finally, a little action. Pearlmon digivolve to Flakemon!"  
  
Warpmon weaved between the two snake Digimon, "Lioness' Hunt!" Her claws started glowing as she swept a paw at Serpentmon, bared her teeth and moved in for the kill.  
  
Mike's eyes widened, "Serpentmon!" His crest started glowing.  
  
"Serpentmon digivolve to WingSerpentmon!"  
  
WingSerpentmon batted Warpmon away with a wing, straight towards Flakemon. However, instead of blasting her, the other snake Digimon just swung her tail around and hit Warpmon back to him. He did the same, and they were soon having fun playing a spot of Warpmon tennis. Who said Digimon can't have fun?  
  
Mary raised an eyebrow, "Violet, you have a lot to answer for."  
  
Steve started massaging his forehead, "That does it, I'm going nuts. An Ultimate and a Champion Digimon are playing tennis with another Digimon. Any moment now someone will start randomly singing Busted or something."  
  
Violet grinned, "You want me to? I know the words."  
  
Mike pointed at her, "Now that's weird."  
  
"Weirder than knowing all the lyrics to the Beauty and the Beast musical?"  
  
John groaned, "Don't tell me..."  
  
Violet waved her hands, "Don't worry! Mary's the one who knows them, not me!"  
  
At this point, Warpmon interrupted with finally breaking free of the tennis match, "Eagle Wing!" She swung around using her wings to hit Flakemon away.  
  
"Flakemon!" Violet cried, "OK, that does it." She took on a position strangely similar to Superman's trademark one, only she had her eyes closed, "Violet digimorph to... to..." She opened one eye, "Bother. There goes that Moon again."  
  
Mary looked at her own Digimon, "You fancy helping instead?"  
  
Jewelmon grinned, "Sure!" She leapt into the air, "Jewelmon digivolve to Diamondmon!"  
  
John turned towards Mythicmon, "Aaaaaaand that would be the cue for some back-up."  
  
"Mythicmon digivolve to Phoenixomon!"  
  
Snowmon sighed, "You want me to join in too?"  
  
Steve shook his head, "It's best if we keep someone back. I know she's just the one Digimon, but she keeps pulling out powers that could count against us."  
  
Snowmon nodded, before turning towards the battle to watch.  
  
Flakemon had, by now, recovered, and was joining in with Diamondmon and Phoenixomon to draw Warpmon's fire. WingSerpentmon's eyes narrowed as he aimed at her now unprotected back, "Flaming Barrage!" Fire shot out of each of his wings again and again, hammering Warpmon out of the sky and into the ground.  
  
"Flame Wheel!"  
  
"Diamond Strike!"  
  
"Phoenix Fire!"  
  
"Flame Wing!"  
  
There was a flash of light, then she disintegrated, the wind blowing her data away. The Digimon de-digivolved, each going to their respective partner.  
  
Violet grinned sheepishly at Pearlmon, "I'm sorry I couldn't help you. That whole `You can't digimorph for a couple of days before a full moon` thing is really getting on my nerves."  
  
Mike put his hand on her shoulder, "Hey, it isn't your fault. Your Digimon just happens to be a night-time one. It's pretty powerful then, so it sort of makes up for it."  
  
Mary clapped her hands together and her eyes went starry, "Aw, aren't you two cute?"  
  
Violet raised her eyebrows, "Meaning?"  
  
"You, him. You've got such cute chemistry."  
  
Mike narrowed his eyes, "Mary, I don't like hitting girls, OK? However, I'm pretty certain Violet is perfectly fine with it, and will do so if you don't shut up."  
  
Mary seemed to consider this. Then Violet lifted a fist, and she quickly turned around, "So, Steve, how..." She trailed off, as her mind registered the fact that Steve was no longer standing there.  
  
John blinked, "Where is he? And, whilst we're at it, where's Snowmon?"  
  
**************************************************************************  
  
Blizzardmon narrowed his eyes slightly, trying to keep sight of Warpmon's data, "Tell me one more time why we're doing this?"  
  
Steve glanced down at the ground, deciding that he much preferred flying in an aeroplane to flying on a very slippery Digimon, "I want to know where Primary Village is, and WingSerpentmon said that that was where a Digimon's data went when it died. So, if we follow Warpmon's, it should lead us there."  
  
Blizzardmon sighed, "I guess he really unsettled you."  
  
The blonde blinked, "Huh? Who?"  
  
"WingSerpentmon. You've been acting really weird since we met him."  
  
He closed his eyes, "I don't know."  
  
Blizzardmon heard something and turned his head to look behind, "OK, let's drop it for now. The others are coming after us, albeit on the ground." Something clicked in his mind, "Hey, is that why you asked me not to digivolve? So that you could follow Warpmon's data?"  
  
"Am I that transparent?"  
  
The Digimon shook his head, turning back towards the front, "It was only because of the way they were following that I realised."  
  
Steve was just wondering what he was meant to say in response when he noticed Warpmon's data start to descend, "Blizzardmon..."  
  
The ice-beast Digimon nodded, "I'm on it. Hold on."  
  
His Digidestined was about to respond with a sarcastic comment about already holding on when Blizzardmon suddenly started to dive down, in an almost vertical descent.  
  
"WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAA!!!!!!! BLIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIZZAAAAAAAARDMOOOOOOOON!!!!!!!!! SLOOOOOOOOOOOOOOW DOOOOOOOWN!!!!!!!!!!!"  
  
His Digimon did not seem to hear him though, and his last relatively calm thoughts were to do with the strange village it looked like they were about to crash into, 'It's PINK...'  
  
**************************************************************************  
  
Mike growled, "Damn blonde... Just going off like that... I should-"  
  
However, the Digidestined on the ground never did find out what Mike should do, since it was at this point that Blizzardmon started his dive and Steve started his yells. Mike blinked, before he started running towards where they had plummeted to. He ignored Mary's rather indignant scream behind him.  
  
"Hey! Mike! Not all of us are athletes, you know! Will you just slow down?"  
  
**************************************************************************  
  
He found Steve sitting in the middle of a strangely bouncy road/street/pathway/thing. The blonde was staring ahead with a look of horror on his face.  
  
Mike made an attempt to start a conversation so that he could start yelling, "You alive then?"  
  
Steve just stared.  
  
Mike tried again, "It's...er...very pink."  
  
"Pink..."  
  
"Yeah," Mike nodded, "Very very pink."  
  
"...Pink..."  
  
Blizzardmon dropped down from a large tower of what looked like those weird cubes that nearly every baby has and knocks over, "Any idea what's wrong with him? He's been like this for the last five minutes."  
  
The active boy shrugged, "I dunno. He probably just doesn't like pink. It's not a very macho colour."  
  
His crest glowed, ^ "He might just have unpleasant baby memories. Pink is a very baby colour." ^  
  
Mike considered this, "Nah. I think mine was more appropriate."  
  
This comment seemed to snap Steve out of it... in a way, "Pink...egotistical maniac...pink..."  
  
It was at this point Violet managed to reach them, albeit panting, "Now there's...a mental image...I'd rather...not have. Unless... you're feel...ling very secure...in your... mascu-thingy."  
  
Mike raised an eyebrow at her, "`Mascu-thingy`?"  
  
She shrugged, "I dunno...do I?"  
  
Now Mary made her entrance, dragging John behind her, and with the Digimon following, "Huh? What?"  
  
Mike pointed at Steve with both hands, "Blondie's having an... INTERESTING reaction to the colour scheme."  
  
At this point Steve would have probably said the colour again, but Mike's comment seemed to have shut him up. Then he muttered, "Blondie?"  
  
Mike nodded, pleased that he was finally getting somewhere, "Yeah. Blondie."  
  
"Blondie?" This was slightly louder.  
  
"Yep."  
  
Steve narrowed his eyes, "What, just because I'm blonde you call me that?"  
  
"Well...yes."  
  
The blonde pushed himself to his feet, before turning around and glaring at Mike, "So just because I'm blonde you call me Blondie?"  
  
The opposing boy blinked, "Well... It would be the standard nickname for blondes."  
  
Steve poked him, "Ah-ha! You think that all blondes should have the same nickname since it is the standard one, and therefore you think that all people are standard!"  
  
"Huh?"  
  
"So therefore you are stereotyping!"  
  
"What?" Mike was very confused by now, "What the heck are you talking about?"  
  
"And therefore you are no better than other people like racists and such- like, who are themselves very much like child-abusers, and therefore you are like a-"  
  
WHAM!  
  
Steve was knocked to the floor. Mike glared down at him, "I am NOT a child- abuser."  
  
The currently-lying-on-the-floor boy was silent for few seconds with shock, before looking up, "And I'm not a dumb blonde."  
  
"I couldn't tell."  
  
"Will you two please be quiet?" A Digimon leapt between the two, "you're disturbing the babies."  
  
It was shaped in a similar way to one of the big cats, like lions or tigers, but otherwise it bared them little resemblance. Its main colour was red, with a white belly and purple stripes in various places. One stripe started at its nose, with was two slits, like a snake, and ended at the fan of feathers that was its tail. Its ears were long and curved down, folding along its neck, with a purple blob at the tip of each. The tail feathers were red with a purple stripe going up the middle of each, and they were long enough to reach the ground. Two stripes went around each of its legs, and its claws were long and sharp. Its eyes were large and blue, and its teeth were like a shark's, only not so many.  
  
It turned around so that it was watching all of the Digidestined, "I am Thunramon, and you are trespassing on Primary Village. If you do not leave right now, I will be forced to use my Electric Shock to make you do so."  
  
Violet blinked, "Well, bang goes that theory about being a Digidestined making every Digimon trust you."  
  
Mary waved her hands in front of herself frantically, "Wait, you don't want to kill us! We're here to help!"  
  
"In that case, why are you here and not somewhere where you CAN help?"  
  
John raised an eyebrow, "Like where?"  
  
Thunramon rolled his eyes, "Now, let me think... How about FIGHTING NIGHTMAREMON?"  
  
Mike slapped his forehead in mock-amazement, "Of course! How obvious! Why didn't I think of that?"  
  
"Because you're a twit."  
  
"Shut it Steve."  
  
Mary walked up to Thunramon and squatted down so that she was at eye-level with him, "Look, Thunramon, we'll go once we've had a look around, OK? This guy, " she waved a hand at Mike, "he's got a Digimon in his crest who lost the way. He promised to get them here, so can he at least drop him off? Then we'll go."  
  
Whilst she was saying this, her voice achieved that tone where it sounds like you should be talking to five-year-olds who won't put down their favourite blanket or are threatening to flush your make-up down the toilet.  
  
The Digimon did his version of raising an eyebrow, "A Digimon who got lost? Now that's rare." He seemed to consider what to do, "Any of you any good at puzzles?"  
  
Violet blinked and looked slightly dizzy, "Whoa. Feel that random subject change."  
  
John looked round at the others, "Well... I guess I'm OK... In that I tend to be right, but..."  
  
Mary turned round to look at him, "John, if I asked you how confident you are, would you answer `not very`?"  
  
He nodded, "My Mum has a lot of fun analysing it."  
  
Steve wondered what he meant by that, but just mentally filed it away in the drawer marked `Things to ask John`.  
  
Thunramon stepped forward, "In that case, I'll let you in as long as he gives me a hand with a puzzle."  
  
John smiled slightly nervously, "I'll do my best."  
  
**************************************************************************  
  
Mike stood in the middle of a rather large field covered in large, variously-coloured eggs, "I really don't want to know what sort of bird spits these out."  
  
^ "Well, first the data-" ^ WingSerpentmon started.  
  
The boy gripped his head, "I said I DIDN'T want to know!"  
  
Steve tutted, "He doesn't shut up when you tell him to? What a disobedient Digimon, maybe you should spank him!"  
  
Mike gave an odd look, "You spank him."  
  
^ "Aaaaaaaand on that note I am going to leave. Thanks for everything." ^ As the Digimon said this, a bluey-green light began to emit from Mike's crest. It focused into a small ball of light, which then began to move off over the field.  
  
Leaving behind a mad blonde still talking about spanking and corporal punishment (and something about medieval catapults), Mike started to follow the light, picking up the pace it did. Thankfully though, he didn't crush any of the eggs.  
  
Once it had reached a relatively clear space, it began to shoot down and form an egg. Then the light faded, leaving behind a light-blue egg with darker green triangles covering it. Mike knelt down in front of it, and rested one hand on it, "Goodbye WingSerpentmon."  
  
**************************************************************************  
  
Mary picked up a Digi-egg, "You remember how to hatch these?"  
  
Violet shrugged, just repeating what V told her, "You rub the eggs, thus warming them up, enabling them to de-digivolve faster and therefore hatch faster."  
  
The black-haired gave her an odd look, "`De-digivolve faster`? `Therefore`? Are you possessed or something?"  
  
Violet blinked, "Er... Nooooo... Certainly not... Whatever gave you that idea?"  
  
~ 'Oh, smooth Violet. Real smooth.' ~  
  
'Shut up.'  
  
Mary looked at her for a bit longer, before giving up and turning back to the egg, "OK, it's something to do." She commenced rubbing, but glanced up at Violet every now and then, 'What's with her? She was never this weird at home. What's happened?'  
  
**************************************************************************  
  
John blinked, "This is your puzzle? An egg?"  
  
Thunramon nodded at the feathers pictured on it, "No egg has that elaborate a design. Whatever it is, it isn't normal. It's... It's like a seal. I've heard the Digimon inside trying to get out from time to time. For whatever weird reason, someone wanted to make sure they didn't get out."  
  
The computer worshipper stroked his chin in the way he did when he was thinking, "Maybe whoever put it there wanted to make sure something had happened first. Maybe only the right person or Digimon can take it off."  
  
The thunder Digimon considered this, "I guess that's possible. In fact... Can I see your crest for a second?"  
  
"Why?"  
  
"I just want to check a hunch."  
  
Giving him a weird look, John took off his tag and held it out so that Thunramon could see the crest inside. The Digimon blinked, "Hey, isn't that the same as..."  
  
The boy sighed and nodded, "Izzy's? Yeah. I'm not sure how that happened, but I guess it's just one of those things."  
  
Thunramon decided to just let it go, and turned back to the egg, "OK, this might just be the mad ramblings of a Digimon, but now I've seen another..."  
  
John raised his eyebrows, "What?"  
  
"...I think the seal on the egg is also a crest."  
  
There was a pause, before the boy took on his thinking pose again, "You know, yesterday that would have sounded mad, but now... I think you're right."  
  
"Really?"  
  
He nodded, "Yeah. The sixth Digimon and the sixth crest for the sixth Digidestined."  
  
**************************************************************************  
  
Nightmaremon smiled, his teeth lengthening as he lifted the knife. There were two ways of opening this gate, both to do with Knowledge. According to the translated version of the writing on the wall, the way to open the gate was `either through light or through blood`. Well, he was a vampire Digimon, and therefore not such a big fan of light. But blood... He understood blood all right.  
  
The Oracle stiffened as the knife slashed through her arm. Blood began to seep out, mixed with data, like all Digimon's. Nightmaremon, resisting the urge to drink it all, to drink her dry, grabbed the injured arm and held it over the channel he had chosen. The inch deep and inch wide ditches ran all over the floor, all finishing at the gate.  
  
The blood ran along the selected one, flowing into the others, spreading out across the room. The vampire Digimon smiled as he watched, still holding her arm firm. It would have been far nicer to see all of the blood coming from the actual holder of Knowledge, but to attempt to kidnap him would have been far too bothersome. No, there was a time and a place for everyone's blood to be spilt, and right now it was the Oracle's.  
  
When every channel had been filled, the blood began to glow. It began to rise out of the channels, covering the whole room in the eerie light-purple light. Denying any natural laws, it began to run up the gate, covering it in the brightening glow. Then the gate began to open, exposing pure white light. Then it began to turn red, as did the blood.  
  
Finally, the red light parted, showing grass... The grass of another world.  
  
Nightmaremon threw the Oracle to the ground, along with the knife. Then he turned to the four Digimon standing behind him, "Youngest, stay here. Guard the gate. If they're going to return to the pitiful planet that they came from, I want them to work for it."  
  
The Warpmon, now recovered from the strange sickness, nodded and left.  
  
"Middle, Eldest, you're coming with me. Oh, and Eldest, try to remember that you've been demoted for your failure. No acting as though you're the most important Digimon here."  
  
The two other Warpmon went in the same direction as their `sister`, the larger one looking as though her version of Christmas was cancelled for the next century or so.  
  
"Victormon, your arm's coming off."  
  
As the strange humanoid moved to secure his appendage, Nightmaremon gave him his instructions, "Stay in the middle of Groups two and three. I don't want that ray damaged. If it is, I'll be removing your head. Permanently, this time."  
  
Done with his fixing, the Digimon winced and hobbled off.  
  
Nightmaremon smile widened as the legions of Lycamon became completely visible to him, "My brothers. This is a dark day for the forces of good. Now we shall strike a blow to the hearts of the Digidestined. Now comes the time of the night!"  
  
The Lycamon began howling and barking, encouraged by their lord's speech. Nightmaremon made no attempt to stop them, but turned back towards the open gate.  
  
"I'll have fun in your world, Digidestined," he whispered.  
  
NOW THAT NIGHTMAREMON HAS GAINED ACCESS TO EARTH, WILL THE DIGIDESTINED BE ABLE TO STOP HIM? AND JUST WHO IS THE SIXTH DIGIDESTINED? FIND OUT ON THE  
NEXT DIGIMON: DIGITAL MONSTERS!  
  
Author's Notes: Typical. Every time I think I've written the longest Digimon episode I've ever done, I beat it the very next time round. And just so I can keep track, this was 2o pages long. 20! This is getting out of hand. I can remember a time long long ago (in a galaxy far far away) when a naïve young writer thought that she was never going to beat 10 pages (Moon Dragon). I've come a long way, no?  
  
So... Few notes. Lycamon are what the WereWolvermon used to be called, before I got Alan W on my tail about unoriginal Digimon. And whilst we're on that track, two things to say to Alan which others might be interested in: You see in the conversation between the Oracle and Nightmaremon why he's so like Myotismon, so please no bugging me about it, and yes, two ideas of yours ARE used here (namely Victormon and the Power Rangers quote). Incidentally, anyone want to guess what type of Digimon Victormon is? It'd be interesting to see what you think.  
  
I know I can be kinda annoying in my stories, like only calling her `the Oracle` when she has a full, Digimon name. This is because 1) I think too much about my stories, and 2) It'd be no fun if I told you everything at once. Plus I like getting on your nerves. #grins#  
  
Since it's been a while, here's an update on disclaimers: Digimon, Power Rangers, Buffy (mentioned in the last episode), the Dragonriders of Pern, Discworld, Britney Spears (thank God), Beauty and the Beast (story, musical or film), Busted, Superman, Star Wars, PG Wodehouse (Challenge: Guess where the reference or whatever it is to him) or any of the many CDs I listened to whilst writing this. I do own my Digidestined and pretty much anything you don't really recognised. I would also like to confirm my right to the idea of Digimon de-digivolving inside their eggs, and the fact that Digimon bleed data as well as blood.  
  
Well, I'd better shut up now. So here is one last thing, since I've given up on the quotes because I never manage to get them all in: I know I never seem to update. I am evil in that sense. This time round I had several problems: A change in computer, so I didn't have the stories for a bit, a highly addictive computer game, Spider Solitaire and Paint. And the Internet, but that's always there. So, I throw myself on your mercy. #does so, remembering a tad too late that your mercy is rather sharp#  
  
...Medic...  
  
Lady Moon 


End file.
